It's Your Future Charlie Brown
by Ballz Mahoney
Summary: Charlie Brown knew that high school would be a very difficult time. He had no idea however that amongst his many problems of being bullied and being a social outcast, he'd have to deal with one of his closest friends wanting nothing to do with him.
1. Author's Note

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown

Author's Note

Originally I had planned to scrap this story when I decided to write the story _Step it Up, Charlie Brown!_ To my surprise, I received quite a bit of support to keep this story going. As such I decided to have this as a prequel to _Step it Up, Charlie Brown_: with that story taking place in Charlie Brown's 11th grade year while this one chronicles his 9th grade year. In order to make this work, I had to remove the opening that takes a few years in the future as it would contradict quite a few important things I wish to develop in the future.

As a prequel this may be a bit choppy, there are going to be a few inconsistencies; I'll admit right now. Please try to enjoy it for what it is though. Thank you again, everyone who enjoyed this story and encouraged me to keep writing it!

-Sean


	2. The First Day of School

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 1: The First Day

"I can't believe we're finally in high school, Charlie Brown. I've waited for this for a very long time!" Linus had been excited about going to high school since the summer began. "It's going to be awesome; we're finally going to get our chance to really show everybody how much we rule." Linus had been my best friend since we were little kids. Most other people thought that Linus was a bit strange. He had a very unique appearance. He was actually a year younger than me but was bumped up a grade in elementary school. He was a bit shorter than me and had really messy black hair. He had patches of facial stubble, ever since he began to hit puberty he had been very proud of his facial hair, even if it was somewhat uneven looking. He wore a striped red shirt and blue jeans: both were about a size too big for him. His most notable piece of attire was his ratty blue blanket: ripped and stained over years of use and abuse (mostly from my dog).

Linus may have looked somewhat unkempt but he was living proof that external appearances mean nothing. Linus was always known for being a very deep and thoughtful person. He was always the one most knowledgeable about Philosophy and Theology as well as having an unshakable code of morals that he lived his life by. Linus was also often my sole confident; he would listen to my problems and offer non-critical advice.

Linus was fairly confident in himself. He may have needed a security blanket to function, but as long as he had that he was fine with himself. I, on the other hand, had zero self-confidence. Ever since I was a kid I always thought of myself as a loser: constantly letting my failures and shortcomings get the better of me. As a kid I was able to get by with such low self-esteem but once I got into middle school things really got bad. I was no stranger to being bullied in my past but kids really started making life difficult for me. It got so bad that I needed to go for psychological help in order to cope. Luckily that part of my life is over, and by the time I was done with 8th grade I was able to function normally again. However the damage was done and from all the bullying and the name calling I was still a very sensitive individual who lacked any sort of self-confidence. I really wasn't looking forward to high school at all. Not only would people continue to bully me and make me look like a fool, but I'd have to meet twice as many new people this year, which means more people who wouldn't like me.

I sighed. Linus may have been excited to start school but I certainly wasn't. Besides the fact that I was a total loser, I didn't exactly look all that great either. My head has always been slightly too big looking for my body, which has earned me the nickname of "blockhead". To make matters worse, my thin blond hair makes it seem like I'm bald. I'm slightly overweight and have a wardrobe that seemingly consists of only tee-shirts with a zigzag stripe: mostly yellow shirts as well (though I do have one or two red and blue shirts).

"Do you really think anybody is going to take you seriously Linus?! You're still carrying around that stupid blanket! You are going to be the laughing stock of the school with that blanket!" Lucy van Pelt was Linus's older sister and probably the number one source of frustration and grief for him. I know how he feels; she used to make my life miserable when we were kids. She's one of those people who love to criticize and she has a very violent side to her. I've seen Linus cower in fear because of her plenty of times. Back when we were kids she used to scam me out of my money too. She ran a psychiatric booth and I was her primary patient. Of course her brand of help was mostly her criticizing me and then telling me I was hopeless. I also still have nightmares about the football as well…. However, I've known Lucy even longer than I've known Linus and despite the fact that she tortured me and has always belittled me, she was still a very close friend of mine. I know that deep down she cared about my well being and had been trying to help me in her own weird way. She had certainly grown into a very pretty girl, even if I considered her something of a sister. She grew her black hair longer over the summer and had a very fair face, which was often juxtaposed with a very severe expression. She was slender and even at age fourteen had already begun to er…um… fill out… very nicely. She tended to favor wearing blue shirts and would alternate jeans and skirts. Lucy was also into being a part of as many causes and organizations as possible. Perhaps it was a church group, perhaps some feminist rally, or maybe some sort of school political position; Lucy was usually wearing at least two or three pins on her shirt declaring what her causes of the week were. "People are going to bully you everyday about that thing!"

Linus smirked as he clenched his blanket, "They'll only bother me _once_." I agreed with him on that account. Linus was pretty adept at using his security blanket as a weapon and few people dared bother him about it anymore.

Lucy shook her head, "Despite the fact that you are an embarrassment as a brother, I fully look forward to starting high school myself. I'm already set to be a member to the Student Government Association and I intend to run for treasurer in October."

"Oh great, you in charge of money, that's going to make this year even better than I had expected." Schroeder, the fourth member of our party finally said. Schroeder and Lucy always have had a very rocky relationship…if you can even call it a relationship. For whatever reason, Lucy has always been madly in love with Schroeder since they were kids. Schroeder however only cared about one thing: Beethoven. Since he was an infant, Schroeder was a musical genius: wowing us day after day on his toy piano. While over the years he had finally been convinced to overcome his fear of real pianos, his skill remained top notch. Schroeder's big weakness however was his lack of patience. He was something of a hot head, especially when it came to people who were ignorant of Beethoven's greatness and more commonly, Lucy. It was almost sad to see how much Lucy had tried to appease him and how he just blew her off more and more. Lucy remembered every one of Beethoven's birthdays: a day that Schroeder celebrated instead of his own birth. Schroeder's obsession with Beethoven could be scary sometimes. One time in Jr. High he had bought a wig identical to Beethoven's and wore it around the school. It was the one week that Violet was crueler to someone other than me.

Schroeder was about my height and was well built, not like a body builder or anything, but he was definitely in better shape than me. He had blonde hair that was much thicker than mine. He tended to wear striped shirts: usually green or purple and carried a picture of Beethoven in his wallet at all times.

Schroeder had been very irate lately: he had spent the summer applying to music schools like Julliard and was rejected from all of them. I felt bad for him but I didn't exactly know what to say. It was very apparently though that he was bitter about having to go to our public high school and with Lucy constantly telling him to 'suck it up and forget about those stupid music schools', I can understand why he'd be frustrated.

Lucy ignored Schroeder's remark and asked, "What about you Charlie Brown, you don't seem too thrilled to start."

I didn't really want to talk about how apprehensive I was about starting high school: about how I was worried about making an idiot out of myself. "Oh you know school's school."

Lucy nodded, "Yeah I guess you're right, I'd rather it still be summer too."

Linus then piped up, "Oh come on, you have to be excited about something Charlie Brown."

I thought for a moment and then, truthfully, said, "I guess it'll be cool going to school with Peppermint Patty and Marcie." Peppermint Patty and Marcie were two of my closest friends who lived on the other side of town. They had gone to a different school in the past, but we were still in the same school district and all would go to the same high school together.

_RING_

The school bell rang, signaling us all to head to homeroom. The four of us had been hanging out in the hallway as we had waiting for the bell to ring. I said my goodbyes to Linus and Lucy who were heading off to a separate homeroom from me and Schroeder.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"CHARLIE BROWN!? AND SCHROEDER!?! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU GUYS IN FOREVER! WHAT A SURPRISE!" As we sat down this strange, but slightly familiar girl bellowed at us. I know I have seen her before. She was slightly overweight and had incredibly messy and curly hair. She wore a blue skirt and looked liked she was dressed up as if she was still in elementary school.

Schroeder politely, but still somewhat awkwardly asked, "Excuse me but do we know you?"

The strange girl's smile quickly turned into a scowl, "OH DON'T TELL ME YOU GUYS HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME, CHAROLETTE BRAUN?!" Good grief, Charlotte Braun, our town's resident loud talker. This girl put Lucy to shame. I knew her very briefly when I was a kid and in a matter of a few days I went from actively trying to befriend her to avoiding her like the plague. Just as quickly as she moved into our area though, she moved out. She must have moved to a different school in the district.

Schroeder, much less polite than before replied, "I'm sorry if we don't exactly remember you after only knowing you for like a month eight years ago."

"THAT'S NOT VERY NICE YOU JERK!" Schroeder is interrupted in his reply by another entrant in our conversation.

"Hey Braun, they can hear you out in the football field. Shut yer trap!"

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS 'BAD CALL'!" I look over to see 'Bad Call' Benny smirking at us, with his feet resting on his desk. Benny was a kid who used to play tennis against Snoopy. He got his name from his tendency to call every shot 'out'. He was also one of those guys who loved to start trouble, usually with the wrong people. Just as things were starting to heat up however, the homeroom teacher entered the classroom and took roll call. After a couple of statements he handed out our schedules.

"Do we have anything together Schroeder?" The two of us compared our schedules and noted that we had English with a Ms. Othmar (which was very strange as that was the name of our elementary school teacher) as well as music with one Mr. Swanson. We were then dismissed from homeroom and headed to our respective classrooms. Schroeder had first period gym, which he was really annoyed about. I suppose I can't blame him, it would stink to get really sweaty in the very beginning of the day. I on the other hand had a class I wasn't looking forward to: Biology with a Mr. Wheeler.

……………………………………………………………………………………………....

As I entered my first class, Biology, I thought I had been transported to the jungle. Various exotic plants had been hanging up from different areas of the room and cages of reptiles and rodents took up any shelf space on the sides. I immediately thought that this was going to be a cool class. I didn't get to look around any further however because I had seem something much better. Sitting alone at a table in the back corner of the room was Marcie Johnson.

Marcie was the sweetest girl I've ever met. She is very shy and quiet but has the biggest heart of anybody I know, she always tries to make me feel better whenever I'm feeling down. She's also incredibly intelligent as well as very witty. She's the kind of person who always has something funny or sarcastic to say, you just have to listen closely for it. She's very cute too. She's pretty short and has shoulder length brown hair. She usually wears red sweatshirts and shorts. A lot of the other girls make fun of her sense of fashion, but that doesn't matter to any of us. She also wears very thick glasses, without them she's practically blind. She thinks that she looks ugly with them on, but I disagree; I think she looks very cute. Not that I'd ever tell her that.

"Mind if I sit with you Marcie?"

She smiles, "Not at all Charles. It's good to see you. I'm glad we have a class together."

"Yeah, we've never been in school together so this should be something new."

My elated mood crashed down though when I saw who had entered to room. He looked around the classroom and honed in at me and Marcie, a devilish grin creeped onto his face. He was quite a bit shorter than me, even shorter than Marcie. His facial expression alternated between a sneer and a smirk. He had long black hair which was complemented by the most obnoxious pair of sideburns I've ever seen on a human being.

His name was Thibault, and he was one of the few people in the world who I couldn't stand. He went to school with Marcie and Peppermint Patty, so I didn't have to deal with him much, but the amount I did see of him was far more than I ever would want. The first time I met him he was playing on Peppermint Patty's baseball team. I had lent him my glove and he refused to give it back. The next time I saw him was when he was bullying Marcie and I failed to stick up for her. He was always out to bully Marcie: he hated her. In fact, many think that he hates woman in general, that he's a sexist pig. He occasionally might listen to Peppermint Patty, but that's only because of her domineering personality. Even so, I've seen him be just as cruel to her as he was to anybody else.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Marcie Johnson. What are you trying to become a doctor or something? You girls have no business taking biology, go to a home ec. class or something."

Marcie glared at him and I followed suit. I did not like this kid. Marcie was the nicest girl and yet he still went after her. "I didn't think aspiring janitors needed biology either, Thibault."

Thibault grabs her, "Listen you geek, shut your dirty little mouth!"

I meekly speak up, "Hey Thibault, get your hands off her." He blinks and looks at me, trying to figure out what to make of me.

"You look familiar kid, what's your name?"

"Charlie Brown." He snaps his fingers as he tries to put my name to my face.

"Ah-ha! You're that friend of Peppermint Patty's! The punk who thinks he's better than everybody else! Yeah I know your type alright! I'll take you on right now!" He raises his fist at me. "Don't think I'm bluffing kid!" I edge away from him; I couldn't take him in a fight!

Luckily I was rescued by the bell. Class had begun and our teacher, Mr. Wheeler had entered the room. Thibualt took a seat at another table and hissed at me, "We'll finish this after school!" Great, my first day and I already am going to be beaten up.

Mr. Wheeler looked like he just got his master's. He was very young, yet was soft spoken and nervous. He was tall and lanky and wore a sweater vest with khakis. He was well groomed and sported a goatee of light brown hair. He gave a brief introduction to the class and confirmed that this was his first year as a teacher, as well the fact that he was currently working on his dissertation for his doctorate. Marcie was curious about what he was writing about, but he had ignored her question in favor of handing out our textbooks and having us read the chapter on all of the parts of a cell. As I was trying to differentiate between cell wall and cell membrane, our teacher sat at his desk, typing furiously at his laptop.

Marcie hissed at me, "Is he planning on teaching us at all today or are we supposed to teach ourselves."

I shrugged, "I guess he wants to learn this on our own." I sighed because I was never going to get straight what a ribosome does.

Marcie sulked, "I already know everything in this book though, I had read it before. How I am supposed to get into medical school if this guy isn't going to teach me anything?"

I rolled my eyes, "If you already know everything in that book I don't think you need to worry about getting into medical school Marcie."

It felt like an eternity, but just as I was about to finally about to memorize the function of the mitochondria, the bell had rang and Mr. Wheeler waved us off. I parted ways with Marcie and after getting a dirty look from Thibault, proceeded to my next class.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I smiled as I made my way into my next class, history, when I saw Linus and Peppermint Patty sitting next to each other smiling at me. I was very glad to so far know people in my classes, I was nervous about finding somewhere to sit if I didn't know anybody. Patty moved two seats behind Linus and gestured to me to sit between them which I gladly obliged. I always sat behind Linus in Ms. Othmar's class in elementary school and Peppermint Patty would be able to whisper to me from behind for answers during the term which I didn't mind as long as I didn't get in trouble.

Peppermint Patty has always been one of my closest friends. I had met her once when she had volunteered to play for my baseball team. She was amazing; unfortunately she was disgusted at our team's lack of skill and only played one game. Peppermint Patty was always much better than me at baseball or pretty much any sport. She was also very competitive (without being a jerk about it). She was always something of a tomboy, and still remains it to this day.

Peppermint Patty is slightly taller than I am and has a lean build. She has a very rugged appearance to her: she commonly has scrapes and cuts from various different activities. She's probably the most in shape person I know and has a vigorous daily exercise routine (she doesn't however limit herself to eating whatever she wants whenever she wants). She has very short brown hair and a face full of freckles. She has always been very self-confident of the way she looks: be it her freckles or her "big nose" (which I never really seemed to notice). I don't think she should be so down on herself. She may not be a supermodel, but she certainly isn't bad looking. Besides her personality more than compensates for her "Plain Jane" looks as she would call it. Peppermint Patty was the first girl I ever knew who didn't act like they hated me and tried to actively demean me. Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of times that she's gotten extremely frustrated at me, but she always eventually is able to get over whatever stupid thing I had done. She also has always had a great deal of confidence in me which I feel is misplaced. She is always convinced that I can do something when I personally know that I can't. Unfortunately she usually just ends up being disappointed and I get upset knowing that I did disappoint her, but deep down I do really like that someone believes in me. The problem with Peppermint Patty is that is always giving mixed signals about things. One minute I think that she may be hitting on me (though I know that would never happen) and the next minute she is yelling at me for being an idiot. Sometimes I don't understand her, but regardless I am really happy to have her as a friend.

"Hey Chuck! Glad to see we have a class together. It should make dull 'ole history a lot more bearable."

Linus took offense to that, "Peppermint Patty, history is one of the most important subjects of our education! How can we form a productive future if we do not understand what has happened in our past?"

"Just because you are aspiring to be the President of the History Club doesn't mean that the rest of us care about what happened in the past." Before Linus could offer a rebuttal, our teacher, Mr. McKinley entered the room. He was a short and thin man who never seemed to have gotten enough sleep. He was unshaven and wore a wrinkled and even slightly ripped suit to class.

Despite his droopy appearance, Mr. McKinley was easily the most animated and spirited teacher I ever had. After giving a brief introduction to himself, instead of lecturing or explaining what we would be learning this year he smiled and said, "History may be a product of the past, but today will soon become tomorrow's history. That's why I want to hear from you, 'What is wrong with our world?'" The entire class was silent. We looked around at each other confused. "Don't be shy now, I want to hear from you guys what you think the biggest problems are in our world."

Linus immediately put his hand in the air and answered, "I think that we live in a culture that is far too dependent on superficial things like appearances and material wealth and is lacking a true solid moral foundation."

Mr. McKinley chuckled, "A very deep concern Mr..." he looked down at his course register "…van Pelt. That is exactly something that some colleges of mine like to discuss. You'd probably fit in well with us." He laughed once more, Linus sunk down in his chair; his face was beaming with both pride and embarrassment. He continued to ask different students what they thought the biggest problems in the world were. We all got a good laugh when Frieda, a very attractive but very self-absorbed girl in the front row, stated that the chlorine in public pools messes up her 'naturally curly hair'. Peppermint Patty started a heated discussion about woman being allowed to play on major league sport's teams with men. When he called on me though I blanked out; I never had given much thought to what I thought the biggest problems in the world were. I mere stated that I didn't know while some of my class mates sniggered at me.

At the end of the period Mr. McKinley stopped the discussion to say, "All of these concerns we've discussed today are legitimate and will certainly affect the history of our future in one way or another." At that point the bell rang, "Alright I'll see everyone tomorrow, and everyone please bring in a copy of the newspaper tomorrow if possible! Oh and Charlie Brown, I'd like to have a quick word with you." My heart sank. My first day of class and I was already in trouble. He was probably going to lecture me on how stupid I was: on how I should keep up with current events. I nodded at Peppermint Patty and Linus as they walked off and approached Mr. McKinley.

"Um, can I help you sir." He eyed me.

"Does your father happen to own a barber shop down by the Main Street and Woodycrest intersection?"

"Uh yeah, _Brown's Barbershop_. He's run it for years."

He smiled, "Ah I thought so! I knew Charlie Brown sounded familiar! I have been a regular at that barbershop for years! I get my weekly shave there and I must say, I don't think anybody gives a better haircut than your old man!"

I laughed nervously; I was sort of embarrassed that my father was responsible for Mr. McKinley's mop of a hairdo.

"I've heard a lot about you Mr. Brown! I look forward to a very capable and intelligent student like you!"

"Oh…thanks…" I look down at the floor. I was sure to disappoint him. I wasn't capable or intelligent, that was just my dad bragging about me…obviously lying. There was nothing about me that my dad would truthfully brag about.

"Well I suppose you better get going; we wouldn't want you to be late for your next class now would we?"

I nodded and rushed out the door, plowing straight into a group of seniors who cursed me out before allowing me to continue on my way.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I stumbled into English a minute late, though it didn't seem to matter since our teacher hadn't arrived. I looked around the room and spotted Linus who thankfully was in two classes in a row with me.

"What did McKinley want Charlie Brown?"  
"Just to tell me he knew my dad. Apparently my dad has been telling him that I'm some genius, so Mr. McKinley thinks I am going to be a great student! Just what I need, a teacher having expectations of me!"

Linus chuckled, "Well it is a father's right to dream, isn't it? Anyway did you check out who's teaching our class?" I shook my head no. "Look at your schedule!" I did as I was told and subsequently gasped in surprise.

"Ms. Othmar!?!"

"Yeah, I wonder if it's the same one." Ms. Othmar was our elementary school teacher. It was also common knowledge that Linus always had a huge crush on her. Once he spent all his money on getting her a huge Valentine (which he unfortunately never got to give her). And I can still remember how heartbroken he was when she had her brief marriage to one Mr. Hagemeyer. And let's not even begin to discuss how he reacted when she got fired during the teacher's strike and was replaced with Ms. Halverson.

I nudged his elbow, "So Linus, you going to woo her after all these years?"

"Hah! She's got to be what, like 40 now? I've got to draw my lines somewhere Charlie Brown! Ms. Othmar was just too late to realize what she had with Linus van Pelt. The two of us stared laughing but quickly were silenced when we saw who walked through the door.

She was like a goddess or a model or something! Like the kind of woman who'd be in a hair metal rock music video! Her blond flowing hair glowed in the light and was complimented by her perfect form fitting dress. Her glasses perched on her forehead indicated that she was as intelligent as she was beautiful and the entire male population was absolutely captivated by her…robust chest…

"Hello class" it sounded like the gates of heaven opened, "I'm Miss Othmar and welcome to 9th Grade English." She began to explain how she was only teaching for two years; she just got her masters and that she was inspired to go into teaching by her older cousin who taught elementary. At that point I stopped hearing what she was saying though, as I was thoroughly distracted. At one point during the lecture she dropped and picked up a piece of chalk, which caused Schroeder, who sat on the other side of the class, to fall out of his seat.

It wasn't until the bell rang that I snapped out of my daze and realized that I'd have to control my hormones if I wanted any chance of passing this class. I turned to Linus, "It's going to be one heck of a job paying attention to the actual literature in this class."

Linus had a look on his face that was quite familiar to me. It was the same look he had when talking about the Great Pumpkin. It was an unshakable look of determination. "She will be mine, Charlie Brown. Ms. Othmar will be mine!"

Oh good grief, not this again!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gym was never pleasant for me, and high school gym was no exception. The gym teacher, Mr. Chadwick was an old, squat man who had very little interest in his job. Our first day he told us that we needed to bring a change of clothing to keep in the gym locker and that he wouldn't tolerate any "BS" in his class. He then brought out a bunch of balls, told us to "go nuts", and then went off to a corner and started reading a magazine that probably was not appropriate for school grounds.

I sighed: a free period. Most students loved free periods but not me. It was just another situation all the other kids would hang out and I would be left out and forced to spend the period by myself in awkward silence. I looked around and saw that bullies Joe Agate and Thibault were playing some one on one basketball. Popular girls: Violet and Patty were gossiping in a corner while Pig-Pen was trying to (unsuccessfully) hit on

Frieda.

It was then when I saw her, sitting on a bench giggling at Pig-Pen and Frieda. My heart completely sank. The girl of my dreams, the girl who I have loved from afar since I was six, was in my gym class: the place I was most prone to make a fool out of myself. For years it was always the same story. I admired her from across the room and she would never know I existed. I always longed to go talk to her, but she was everything and I was nothing. I was just some creepy loser named Charlie Brown.

"Oh Charlie Brown!" I snapped out of my depressed musings to see Lucy throwing and catching a football to herself. "You want to kick the football? I'll hold it and you'll come and kick it!"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid Lucy? Do you really think I am going to let you make a fool out of me in front of all these people?!" It's insulting to think that Lucy was still doing the old football bit with me.

"Oh come on Charlie Brown, that's such a childish thing to do. We're in high school, do you really think I'd do such an immature thing now that we're in high school." She made a good point. Pulling the football away from me would be incredibly immature. "Come on Charlie Brown, you need to at least make it seem like you're playing some sport if you want to get credit for today's class."

"I suppose you're right Lucy, I'll do it!" I took a few steps back, elated that I would finally kick this football. We were in high school; Lucy wouldn't be petty enough to pull the football away now! This was going to be a new era for Charlie Brown! I'd kick the football on the first day of high school and then more things would work out for me. I could finally talk to that Little Red Haired Girl!

"AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I flew through the air and landed on my back, like hundreds of times before. The cries of laughter immediately filled the gymnasium.

Lucy walked over to me and beeped me on the nose. "Just so you know that Little Red Haired Girl found your flight quite hilarious!"

Who am I kidding: things are never going to change for Charlie Brown.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"You really are stupid Charlie Brown. Only a blockhead like you would still let Lucy pull the football away from you!" Of all the people who had to see Lucy make a fool of me, Violet Grey is the absolute worst. Her and her friend Patty were two of the most popular girls in the school, and they knew it. Violet was fairly pretty, but that was more than offset by her snobbery and downright nasty attitude. Patty was both prettier than Violet and marginally friendlier, but was too quiet to do anything but be Violet's sidekick.

It was lunch period and I hadn't found anybody to sit with, so I just sat at the first empty table I could find. Of course that didn't stop Violet from finding me. Of course I had to have gym and lunch back to back with her, it would ensure that I'd never stop hearing about everything I did wrong in gym.

"You are totally worthless Charlie Brown. It's no wonder you're sitting here alone." I tired ignoring her. I took a bite of my bland peanut butter sandwich and stared blankly ahead, fighting every urge to show weakness.

"You need to be more like Shermy, Charlie Brown." Patty began to brag, it was no secret that the two of them were dating. I could see Violet roll her eyes. Shermy was a decent guy: I used to be friends with him ages ago, but we just sort of stopped talking after a while. Truth be told, I haven't even seen him in a while. "He's already been appointed Freshman class representative on the student board."

"On the first day of school?"

Violet sneered, "Oh yeah. Unlike you, Shermy actually is going to make something of himself."

Patty smiled, "Oh my Shermzie is going to be class President! Just you wait!"

I stare at Patty, "Shermzie?!"

Violet grabs Patty's arm, "Get a grip Patty!" Patty's smiled evaporate as her face turned a bright shade of pink. "Come on, let's leave Failure Face to his brown bag lunch!" The two girls walked off laughing, leaving me to contemplate how much of a loser I was compared to Shermy.

"Another brown bagger, eh? I sense a kindred spirit." I looked up to see a slightly familiar boy standing next to me. He had dark curly hair and wore a blue Hawaiian shirt. I knew I had seen him before but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"I'm sorry, I know I know you from somewhere but you need to jog my memory."

He shrugged, "Fair enough. The name's Roy. We're mutual friends of Peppermint Patty; in fact, you met her through me years ago." Oh man! Now I remember! I hadn't seen Roy in ages, I completely forgot about him.

"Oh wow! Yeah I remember you! We met at summer camp. What's up?"

Well me and my friends noticed you were sitting here alone, with no company but the scorn of the 'popular' girls. We thought we'd invite you over to our table. Though I warn you…" he smirked, "we are the nerds of the school. I wouldn't expect your social standing to rise with anybody through us."

I smiled, "Well I don't exactly think anyone could possibly think any lower than me."

"Well it's settled then Charlie Brown, follow me." He lead me to the other side of the room. "I guess you know everyone though."

"I sure do! Franklin! Pig-Pen! It's been ages!" Franklin Armstrong got up and shook my hand. He was always a very level-headed guy.

"It's great to see you Charlie Brown! How's the team holding up?"

"Oh well, we disbanded back in 6th grade. Everyone else pretty much lost interest."

Franklin sighed, "Yeah, I guess that's the way it goes for most teams. Of course with Peppermint Patty as our manager, we'd have a bounty on our head faster than you could say carbonite if we tried quitting her team."

"You can't exactly blame us for quitting." Pig-Pen, who used to play for my team, spoke up. "5 years with only three wins. Not exactly good for the spirit, eh Charlie Brown?"

I sighed, "Yeah I suppose you are right." Pig-Pen was still very true to his namesake. Although in addition to his trademarked cloud of dust he also had stains of various foodstuffs peppering his clothing. He had gained a bit of weight over the summer and was in desperate need of a shave.

I hadn't talked to any of these guys in a few years, but it was cool to finally be able to hang out with them again. At least I knew I wasn't the only misfit in the school.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I had music class, with Schroeder, next. I could tell he was still in a foul mood about the whole Julliard affair. He wouldn't speak to me except in grunts. Of course, I don't think our teacher, Mr. Swanson, made matters any better. He was a tall, blond, guy in his mid thirties with a huge cleft and an even bigger smile. He introduced himself as being a world famous singer and we quickly discovered that he was a washed up child star who ended up turning to lounge singing before moving on to teaching. Of course even as a child star his roles were usually limited to minor parts in Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. He claimed that he could cultivate those with talent into stars comparable to him. At that point Schroeder loudly scoffed and was swiftly sent to the principal's office.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

My final class of the day was Math, which I had with Lucy and this guy we knew named '5'. 5 was a nice guy I guess, I knew him since I was a kid. I was never good friends with him or anything; he was one of those guys that always seemed to just be in the background. He was named because his dad had some sort of nervous breakdown and was overwhelmed with the importance of numbers in our world. He named his children after numbers as his way of 'giving in' (as a side note, 5 has twin sisters named 3 and 4). 5 was so unassuming that under any other circumstances I wouldn't bother mentioning him. But today was different, he looked really depressed. Lucy and I weren't sure if we should have asked him if anything was wrong. We were friendly with him back when we were kids, but we really never talked to him much since then. We weren't sure if it was any of our business.

It didn't take long to realize why 5 was so upset though when our teacher walked into the room. He was a man of average height and average build. He was balding and wore very odd unmatching clothing. He had a nervous tick where he'd twitch after every sentence and had a bad stutter. He introduced himself as '1'.

"N-n-numbers are a very imp-p-portant aspect of our lives. No matter how m-much we may try, there is no escap-ape-aping them…" It was really sad watching 5's reaction to his father and I was determined to talk to him after class. We didn't get to do any actual math that day either, as 1 just kept talking about how numbers control everything. When the bell finally rang 5 sprinted out of the class before I could say anything to him.

Lucy walked up to me, "Damn Charlie Brown, and I thought you had problems!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I was glad that my first day of high school was over. While I was happy to have some classes with friends, I still knew that high school was just going to be more of the same for me: I was still going to be that pathetic loser of the school that everyone walked over.

Lucy and I had separated after class: she wanted to find Schroeder and sit with him on the bus. That left me to walk back to the bus alone…or so I had hoped.

"Hey, Charlie Brown! Where do you think you're going!" I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned around. "I told you that we'd finish this after school! Well, school's out buddy!" Thibault walked over to me and started to push me. "Come on Charlie Brown! Let's do this! I'll take you on right now!"

"I'm not going to fight you Thibault." I tried to turn around and head for the bus but he grabbed me by the shoulder.

"I don't like your attitude kid! I think it's time to teach you a lesson!" I grimaced, fully expecting to feel a fist meet my face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Thibault!?" Peppermint Patty came running up to us. "I can't believe you picking on Chuck on the first day of school!"

"This isn't any of your business Patty! Keep your big nose out of this! It's between him and me!" Peppermint Patty stomped her foot.

"I've had it with your attitude! I don't care if you're a great shortstop: I can't stand your attitude! You're an asshole and a sexist! I'm kicking you off the team again! And this time for good!"

Thibault snorted, "Pft, we'll see how long that lasts! What're you going to do, get four eyes to play short stop again?! Hah! You'll be begging for me back soon enough!" He faced me, "You got lucky this time kid, but you won't always have some girl protect you! I'll see you later, you freaking wuss!"

He stormed away leaving me and Patty together. Embarrassed, but grateful for her help, I turn to her, "Thanks Patty. I'm too much of a wimp to stand up for myself."

She patted me on the back, perhaps a little to hard as it caused me to trip forward a bit, "Think nothing of it Chuck! That guy is a real jerk, he always gets on my nerves! Good riddance I say!"

"But isn't he a good shortstop? I kind of feel bad being responsible for you hindering your team."

"Aw, that's alright Chuck! Sometimes you got to put your principals over your players."

I laugh, "Yeah, sometimes I wish the major league teams would do that more often. There are sure a lot of jerks like Thibault on those teams!"

"Hah, well you're just upset cause Shlabotnik's been pushed to the minor leagues again!" We both begin to laugh. "But it doesn't really matter, I'm disbanding the team soon anyway, I just haven't gotten around to telling everyone."

"What?! Why would you do that?"

She looked at me in shock, "Why do you think Chuck?! I'm going to try out for the school's team! Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to go for pitcher this year, but I'm sure I can nab it after showing everyone how good I am. Are you trying out on Thursday or Friday?"

I stared down at my feet, I never told her, "Um…I'm not going to try out. I'm kind of done with baseball."

I had never seen such a look of outrage on Peppermint Patty's face before, "WHAT!?! You can't be serious Chuck! Baseball is your life!!"

"But I've always been so terrible at it. If you cut off my thumb and I was to count my victories on one hand I'd still have fingers to spare."

"Oh there's always room for improvement Chuck! And it's not like you'd be manager; you'd find your niche in the team! Maybe you were always destined to be shortstop, or catcher?!"

"Look, I've tried out before in middle school and the coach laughed at me! Why should I bother now? I'd rather just avoid making a fool out of myself."

"Avoid?! Is that what you're going to do?! Just avoid things because you're afraid of them! I know you were a blockhead Chuck, but you're better than this! You can't just give up!"

"It's not worth it Patty, why should I bother with something that I'm so terrible at? I'm not trying out, I got enough to deal with already."

She sighed, "I can't believe you Chuck. I seriously can't believe you." My heart sank. I felt like a piece of garbage just giving up like that. Despite all my mistakes Peppermint Patty usually was someone who'd stick up for me. Maybe she'd get frustrated at me, but this was the first time I ever saw her be down right disappointed in me. The two of us said goodbye and went to our respective busses giving me plenty of time to contemplate how much of a loser and a quitter I was.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_As Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty parted ways towards the busses, both feeling very upset because of the conversation that took place, Lucy van Pelt approached her friend and object of affection: Schroeder at his locker. He was having quite a bit of difficulty getting his combination to work, something that Lucy thought was cute._

_"Having trouble sweetie?" He shot her a dirty look and then quickly returned his focus to the locker. "Man, you seen extra cranky today."_

_Without looking at her he mumbled, "Of all the people to talk about crabbiness!"_

_"Oh good grief, don't give me that attitude, what's wrong?"_

_"Well I guess you won't shut up if I don't tell you… I got sent to the principal today! I already have a detention under my belt!"_

_"Sheesh Schroeder! What the heck did you do?"_

_"I told the truth! That's what I did! I called out that good for nothing Mr. Swanson! He didn't take very kindly to it. I knew that this school was worthless! If Swanson is who they think is qualified to teach music then I refuse to cooperate with any of these idiots!"_

_Lucy stared blankly, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. By the way it's right-left-right, not left-right-left: that's probably why your locker isn't opening."_

_Schroeder slammed his fist into his locker door, causing Crybaby Boobie, whose head was looking for a book in her adjacent locker, to hit the ceiling of her locker in reaction to the sound. "I-KNOW-THAT-LUCY!"_

_"Lucy backed a few steps away from the aggravated Schroeder, watching as he finally got his locker open thanks to her advice. "Well, I'm sure you'll get into music school eventually, you just need to be patient." _

_"Oh what do you know?! You're still under that delusion that you have a future in psychiatry!"_

_Thoroughly offended Lucy turned around, "Alright, if this is how you are going to act, I'm going to leave you to yourself for now. I'll save you a seat on the bus." _

_As she walked away Schroeder slammed his locker door and angrily stared at her. He muttered, "When the hell is she going to get the hint?!"_


	3. The Homecoming Dance

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 2: The Homecoming Dance

I sat at my kitchen table, trying my hardest to concentrate on my biology homework. It was getting hopeless: I was never going to remember what a lipid and an amino acid was…and don't even ask me about things like polypeptides and fatty acids! I would call up Marcie for help but…

"Oh I know! That Harold Angel really is something else!"

…my sister Sally tied the phone line for the past two hours. Granted, she does this every night so I should be used to it by now…but still it's really annoying. I try and signal her to quiet down but she just rolls her eyes at me. "Yeah Eudora, like you'd have a chance with him!"

My sister Sally's a year younger than myself, so she's still in middle school. I guess she's pretty and everything: I really wouldn't be able to judge since she's my sister. She's got blond hair and is fairly slender. She's without a doubt one of the most annoying people in the world though! She's wrong about so many things, yet is convinced that she's correct! And since she was a kid she's always had me do her homework for me and then criticize me when I give her the _right_ answers! She's also impatient and self-absorbed like you wouldn't believe! I sometimes wonder how we're even related sometimes: we're so different.

I went back to my work, trying hardest ignore her conversation with her friend Eudora, which was increasingly turning into an argument. Sally once described Eudora as being someone who could "charm your socks off", and I suppose she's right. Eudora is fairly pretty (although she always seems to look a little bit too spaced out) and is both friendly and flirty. She is also very casual which suits her very well. Most people tend to like Eudora more than Sally, which obviously causes my sister to start bickering incessantly with her.

"Oh don't you DARE bring my sweet baboo into this! I swear Eudora if I ever see you talking to him again I'll knock your block off!" Ugh, sweet baboo is Sally's pet name for Linus. Linus can't stand her, which I can't blame him for, but she incessantly stalks him.

"Sally please! I'm trying to do my biology homework! Can you please keep it down?!"

"Oh forget your stupid biology homework! What—no it's my blockhead brother. …Oh fine. Eudora told me to say 'hi' to you. Now anyway…"

Ugh, I wasn't getting anywhere with this. I decided to bring my homework outside and work on the front stoop, it may have been uncomfortable, but at least no one would distract me.

"Hey, Charlie Brown!" Annoyed and worried that I'd never get this homework done I look up to see Linus greeting me.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Oh nothing too much, I was wondering if you heard the news?"

Obviously I hadn't since I had no clue what he was talking about. "I can't say I have."

"Oh well, the night before the homecoming game, apparently the school has a homecoming dance. You know what that means right?" He was smiling but I was just confused.

"Um, another event to glorify the jocks?"

"Well you just ignore those meatheads. Nah, it's the perfect opportunity to pick up girls, Charlie Brown! Chicks dig dances!" I rolled my eyes; of course Linus was scheming something.

"Linus, why would I want to go to that dance, I'm just going to make a fool out of myself."

He looked a little annoyed, "Oh stop with that, you're going to that dance and you're going to dance with a girl! Trust me!"

"Did I hear dance?!" Sally was standing on the porch with us. Apparently her phone conversation conveniently ended once Linus showed up. "Is my sweet baboo here to ask me to the homecoming dance?"

Linus gritted his teeth, "I'm not your sweet baboo and I wouldn't invite you to an colonoscopy!" Sally obviously didn't understand Linus's comment because she started going off about what kind of dress she was going to get. Ignoring her Linus turned to me, "Alright Charlie Brown, you're coming to this dance, I've already decided on this!"

Annoyed I replied, "And what made you decide this?"

"I decided this because you freaking need to get out more Charlie Brown! You can't go around moping all the time because you're too self-conscious! This is the perfect opportunity to break out of that shell of yours and have some fun for once! Come on, I bet that cute girl with the red hair is going to be there! You can ask her to dance and then maybe do something else afterwards heh-heh." He starts to nudge my elbow.

"Jesus, quit it! She wouldn't want to go with a loser like me."

"You don't know that Charlie Brown. Look it's all about how you play the game Charlie Brown. If you think like you do you're not going to get any action. You need to be positive! Oh and at the dance don't stand on the sides. Even the popular guys like Shermy can't grasp this technique! If you want to get the girls you actually have to dance!"

"But I can't dance!"

"Neither can I, but you think that's going to stop me!"

"Sheesh, who are you even going to ask Linus?"

An evil smile stretched across his face, "The only woman in my heart, Miss Othmar!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I was beginning to get very nervous. It was already Wednesday and the dance was Friday night. I would have to get up the nerve to talk to the Little Red Haired Girl soon or I'd miss out on yet another opportunity.

"So who can tell me what document sparked the Nullification Crisis?" I forgot for a moment that I was in Mr. McKinley's class; I was so absorbed in my worrying. Linus had almost jumped out of his chair in excitement to answer the question. The rest of the class wasn't so enthusiastic; in fact Peppermint Patty was in the middle of snoring. Mr. McKinley chuckled, "Well I know you know the answer Mr. van Pelt. Would anybody else like to volunteer?" He was met with dead silence, I thought I may have known the answer but I didn't want to offer it, chances are I was wrong. After we all got a laugh at Frieda's answer of "Treaty of Abominables" Mr. McKinley turned his eye to Peppermint Patty. "How about you Patricia?" I nudged her, awakening her from her slumber.

"…ah! It's seven! Seven? No….? Is it Edgar Allen Poe?! How would it be if I spelt Montana?!"

"Maybe we'll come back to you when you remember what class you are in." Linus and I began to laugh at her until she shot us a look which told us we better shut up immediately. "What about you Mr. Brown?" I froze, I never tried to make myself stand out so I wouldn't get called on but I blew it this time.

"Um…the Tariff of 1828?"

"Exactly! The Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations as Frieda came so close to telling us sparked the…" He continued to talk about the sectional crisis that plagued the Jackson administration but I stopped paying attention. I was just happy to have gotten the question right!

Peppermint Patty hissed at me, "Traitor! You should have taken the fall too! I bet you set me up!" I grinned at her. It's the small victories like these that keep me going I suppose.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

That entire class period Mr. McKinley kept calling on me and I kept giving him the right answer. As I walked through the halls to my next class I felt elated, perhaps this was finally something I was good at. I was never a terrible student or anything, but I certainly wasn't an 'A' kid. So far however, I really was batting 1000 in this class. Perhaps I was looking too deeply into it, but it was just the confidence booster I needed if I was going to ask that Little Red Haired Girl to the homecoming dance.

Unfortunately I was so deep in thought that the bell rang when I was still at my locker! I began to rush and stuffed some random books into my backpack; hoping one of them would be my English book. I slammed my locker closed and turned around and bumped right into Thibualt, who was waiting for me.

"Looks like we're both late for class Charlie Brown. I've been waiting to catch you alone for a while!" He started punching his fist into the palm of his hand. "I hope you're ready to go!"

"Look I'm really late for class, I need to go!" I tried to walk past him but he swiftly grabbed me by the collar and pinned me up against the locker!

"You're not going anywhere Charlie Brown! Not at least until I teach you some respect!"

"What did I ever even do to you!?"

He began to think, "I guess nothing much, but it still doesn't matter!" He slammed me against the locker again. "I just don't like you!"

"Hey! Drop him right now!" Thibault let me go and turned around. We were both facing a older girl, probably a sophomore who was proudly displaying a hall monitor badge. "This is the third time this week that I've caught you bullying someone Thibault! Get your ass to detention right now!"

"Oh yeah Fat Legs?! Make me!" It was instant. One moment Thibault was telling her off and the next she had him in a chokehold! "Don't EVER call me fat legs!" I watched in horror as this massive girl made Thibault scream in pain. She eventually let Thibault go and warned him, "I don't want to see you in the hallways after the bell rings again Thibault! And god help you if I ever catch you bullying somebody again!"

"The school board is going to hear about this Molly!" Once I heard her name I knew who my fearsome savior was: Molly Volley, Snoopy's old mixed doubles partner. She was a massive girl, though she was very self-conscious, and deadly, about it. She was possibly one of the angriest people I've ever met. Lucy may be the essence of crabbiness but Molly Volley is the human avatar of rage! I've seen her do a number on "Bad Call" Benny before, and Snoopy is rightfully terrified of her.

Thibault walked away, presumably to the Assistant Principal's office to deal with his detention. I tried to sneak away but was stopped by Molly, "Not so fast partner, I need to get some information down so I can file this incident report! Name?"

"Oh…um…Charlie Brown…" Her eyes lit up.

"Charlie Brown! Well I'll be! I was wondering when I'd bump into you! Once I saw Snoopy hanging around in those stupid sunglasses I knew that you had to be around!"

"Snoopy?! What's he doing here?!"

"Oh I caught him a few days ago hanging outside the gym, eyeing the cheerleaders! I tried to kick him out but he got away from me!"

"Oh good grief! He never can stay out of trouble!"

"Yeah, you're telling me! Next time you see tell him I better not catch him where he isn't suppose to be! Oh and also…" She blushed for a moment, "…tell him if he ever needs another mixed doubles partner that I'm currently open!"

"Oh! I'm sure he'd love to hear that!" I completely lied.

"Yeah…just let me know alright? Anyway, I saw that punk bullying you! You got to stick up for yourself! You're never going to be a champion if you let people walk over you like that!"

"A champion?"

"Yeah! Let me tell you something: champions aren't born in Wimbledon!" Oh good grief! "They come from dumpy high schools just like this one! You got to always be giving it your best!"

I rolled my eyes but gave her a sincere enough sounding "Thanks" so that she wouldn't cream me.

"Where are you headed? I'll write ya a pass?"

"English."

"Alright here ya go. Remember, tell Snoopy that I really need a partner for mixed doubles!"

………………………………………………………………………………………............

That night after school I met up with Linus, Lucy, and Schroeder at our favorite diner. After I ordered a hamburger the four of us began to discuss the impending dance.

"I'm telling you, Ms. Othmar is going to chaperone the homecoming dance! I'll make my moves then."

"Oh shut up you blockhead! You aren't putting any "moves on Ms. Othmar!"

"Oh yeah Lucy, what makes you so sure?! You have no idea how much of a smooth operator I am!"

"What are you going to do?! Show her your blanket!? I'm sure she's going to be really impressed! I bet that her sister told her how much of a basket case you are anyway!"

Linus began to laugh, "We'll see who's so crazy when I'm first basing it with Ms. Othmar!" Lucy looked at me and roller her eyes.

"Okay Linus, let's say we exist in an alternate universe where you have a remote chance of getting with Ms. Othmar. You're thirteen years old, she's like what: twenty four? Last I checked that's called pedophilia and you'd get your sweet Ms. Othmar in a whole mess of trouble!"

Linus began to scratch the very light facial stubble on his chin, "Oh I think I could easily pass for at least eighteen."

Lucy laughed, "Hah! An eighteen year old in eighth grade! Way to aim for the stars Linus!" It was at that point where we were served. I had my burger which I asked for medium-well and got black as a hockey puck. Lucy also got a medium well burger which looked picturesque. Linus got chicken strips and Schroeder got some soup that he looked disgusted with.

Utilizing the opportunity to shift the conversation away from him, Linus asked, "So Charlie Brown, did you ask Heather to the dance yet."

"No, not yet. Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow."

Schroeder finally spoke, "Sheesh you're waiting until the day before the dance? I wouldn't even bother getting your hopes up. Someone's bound to have asked someone as hot as Heather!" Lucy scowled at that comment and began to mutter how the Little Red Haired Girl wasn't anything special.

"I wouldn't say that Schroeder. According to my sources, Heather's still open. Most guys are too intimidated by her beauty and think they have no chance with her!"

I chuckled, "I know I'm guilty of that."

Lucy laughed, "Charlie Brown, if we dressed Snoopy up in a tutu you'd still be taken aback at such beauty and would have a panic attack trying to ask him out."

I glared at her and spoke through gritted teeth, "Gee, thanks Lucy."

Schroeder pointed at Linus, "What the heck do you mean by 'your sources'?"

"Pig-Pen and Roy have started their own in school – information brokerage. From what I heard, they have the best sources of information bugged!"

I spit out some of the coal that was supposed to be my burger, "An information brokerage!?"

Schroeder also sounded surprised, "What do you mean bugged!?!"

"Apparently they are keeping tabs on what Violet and Patty, our school's premier gossips, have to say. Pig-Pen claims they have small microphones on them but I don't buy it!"

Schroeder rolled his eyes, "What the hell is wrong with this school?!"

We ate in silence for a few moments until Lucy, finishing her burger said, "It would sure be a pity if a certain someone didn't ask a certain someone else to the dance, wouldn't it Schroeder?"

Schroeder looked around nervously and then put some money on the table, "I just remembered I had something to do! I'll see you guys later!"

Lucy sighed, "It freaking figures!"

……………………………………………………………………………………………....

The next day, Thursday, went on without too much incident although I had failed to work up the nerve to ask the Little Red Haired Girl to the dance during gym class. It was safe for me to walk the hallways for the time being: Thibault indeed received detention thanks to Molly Volley (though it still scares me that the school has given a girl like that any sort of authority) so the day went fairly smoothly otherwise. I decided to stay after school that day: Linus had convinced me to join this cool club on campus called the Strategy and Tactics club. It was mostly stuff like playing board games and some video game systems were hooked up. I sat with Pig-Pen, Franklin, Linus, Roy, and strangely Marcie who were playing "Lairs and Liches". I tried joining in but I kind of sucked at it. Pig-Pen called me a "noob"…I've been called much worse.

After the club was over all of the students that stayed after school would wait outside for the buses. Unlike the regular buses after the last class, the after school buses never really had a set time that they'd show up: some would arrive with others and then would leave after a few minutes. There was usually at least a 20 minute wait from the end of whatever club you were at to the time your bus would arrive. Linus, Marcie, and I waited outside the front of the school: we had split from Pig-Pen's group who were busy having an argument about if "Roy's shaman was unbalanced".

"Well Charles, I must say, even if it did cause our group to wipe, trying to rescue me from Frotak the Unspeakable was a very brave thing." Marcie said sounding only half sarcastic.

Linus scoffed, "Of course it would have been much nicer if you decided to save Roy, our healer, instead of rushing towards Marcie who was at full health and decked out with high level plate armor. But really, it's all good Charlie Brown."

I grumbled, "Thanks a lot Linus."

"Anytime Charlie Brown. Anyway did you ever get around to asking you know who to the dance."

"Uh, no not really."

Marcie thankfully butted into the conversation, "Oh, I didn't know you guys were going to the Homecoming Dance!"

"Oh yeah Marcie! We are totally going to be there! I'm going to obviously score with Ms. Othmar!" Marcie rolled her eyes.

"Well Charles, if you're not going with anyone maybe you'd like to go…"

Before Marcie could finish her sentence though Linus interrupted her by yanking my arm, "Charlie Brown! Look who it is! It's Heather! Go on ask her!" Linus then pushed me forward right to where she was standing! She was waiting for her bus with a bunch of the other cheerleaders, and here I was standing right in front of them! I must have looked like a complete fool!

"ASK HER CHARLIE BROWN!!"

I was frozen, the group of cheerleaders looked at me. The only word that came out of my mouth was a loud, "DANCE?!" Everything froze for a moment and then the cheerleaders…including the Little Red Haired Girl, began to laugh at me. Absolutely embarrassed, I slunk back to Linus and Marcie.

"Well, I really blew it this time. There's no way she'd ever want to go to the dance with me now! Look at how much of an idiot I am!"

Linus grinned, "Well, at least you can't say she doesn't know you exist anymore Charlie Brown!"

Marcie whispered, albeit still loudly enough for me to hear, "I don't think that's exactly what Charles wants to hear right now Linus." Suddenly I started hearing clapping coming from behind.

"Another 5 star performance by Charlie Brown!" I turned around, it was Violet Gray. "The best part was the twist though, you are actually planning on going to the homecoming dance Charlie Brown?! You're going to make a total fool of yourself…not that you haven't succeeded in doing that right now as well, but I figured you'd at least want to take one night off!"

Marcie spoke up, "Will you just leave him alone Violet, he's not in a good mood?"

Violet sighed, "You are such a smart girl Marcie, why the hell are you hanging out with these blockheads?!"

"These blockheads happen to be my friends! And what are you doing after school anyway? I thought you were too concerned with yourself than to be a part of a club."

"Well if you must know, Shermy and I are on the school paper! I'm working my way to becoming editor! Now let me get this straight, you actually thought you'd go to the dance?! And then you thought you had a chance with a cheerleader!?! I swear, you're going to be front page news! I could kiss you Charlie Brown, a story as outrageous as this will surely make me head editor! Of course I won't kiss you since it still hasn't been determined whether failure is contagious or not."

I started to feel even worse about myself until Marcie put her hand on my shoulder and said loudly, "Nothing she says matters, just ignore her."

Violet rolled her eyes, "Marcie, the minute you want to ditch these idiots and hang out with people who are actually going somewhere with there lives…"

Linus yelled, "I resent that statement! I'm going to be a great theologian!"

Violet snapped back, "Yeah just like how you're going to bang Ms. Othmar! Anyway Marcie I was saying the minute you want to ditch these blockheads and want to hang out with me, Patty, and Shermy, you just drop on by. Otherwise I guess I'll see you all at the dance! And boy do I look forward to seeing what stupid crap you pull this time Charlie Brown."

She walks away laughing and Marcie clenching her fists said, "I really can't stand her. I wouldn't hang out with her group if everyone else in the school dropped dead of Whopping Cough!"

Whooping Cough?!

Linus remarked, "Yeah, and what's Shermy got that we don't, Charlie Brown?!"

I sighed, "Where do I even begin?"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

That night as I was doing my homework I got a call from Peppermint Patty. Figuring that there wasn't anyway I was going to figure out this biology homework anytime this lifetime, I agreed to meet her at our favorite spot, under this tree in the park. After making a point of sneering at the hated Kite-Eating Tree when I passed it I, met up with her.

"Hey Patty, how're you doing?"

She sighed, "I'm not going to lie I've been better Chuck, I'm having so much trouble with school! What about you?"

"I'm doing alright in school, although I am having a lot of trouble with Biology."

"At least you're in Biology, they put me in the remedial Science class! And I'm even having trouble with that!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that…" She had that look on her face like she was about to burst out crying and that she was mustering everything in her to hold it in.

"I'm so stupid! I'm in all of the 'remedial' classes! I have to take two periods of math because I failed some of my middle school courses!" Peppermint Patty is nowhere near as stupid as she makes out to be, it's just she can never stay awake in class. I think that's a product of her father working late nights. I feel bad for her, she never knew her mother and her father, though very loving, isn't around very often due to his job.

I tried to think of anything to make her feel better, "Well you can't be that bad, you're in my history class…the same class as Linus: the history genius!"

"Yeah but I can't get anything right in that class! I mean, yeah Mr. McKinley is probably a better teacher than a lot of my other teachers but I still can't remember anything in that class! I don't think I'm even going to be able to get a D minus!"

"Well, maybe you can get Linus to tutor you; he's really good at that class. I could ask him for you if you want."

"Are you crazy Chuck!? How can I tell if Linus is telling the truth about something or is making it up! I'd be too stupid to tell disbelieve that that Great Pumpkin invented the cotton gin!" She was right; Linus did sometimes have a skewed sense of reality.

"Well I'm sure Marcie would…"

"No! Marcie made it clear to me that she wouldn't tutor me in anything this year! I'm just too stupid for her!" Marcie had complained to me before about how impossible it was tutoring Peppermint Patty. She'd waste time and not pay attention to anything. It was pretty much futile. However, when I saw Patty start to sob over how dumb she felt she was I couldn't just stand by.

"Look Patty, I don't think I'd make a great tutor or anything, but for some reason I'm doing pretty well in McKinley's class…if you want I could tutor you…"

She sobbed a few more times and then wiped the tears from her eyes, "Y-you'd do that…for me?" I smiled at her and nodded. She rushed over and hugged me, at first I tensed up, I wasn't used to getting hugs, but after a moment I was able to loosen up a bit and put my arm around her shoulder.

"You're a good guy Chuck…you're a really good guy!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The next day was Friday, and all day I was dreading going to the dance. I promised I'd go with Linus so I could be his wingman…as he attempted to pick up our English teacher. It seemed that everyone was very caught up with the Homecoming Dance, so even during the school day it was impossible to think about it. Lucy of course wouldn't shut up about how she was going from Schroeder and Schroeder in turn looked like he was about to jump off a bridge. Violet and Patty made sure to remind everyone that Shermy was going to be the DJ tonight and Frieda held up our history class by twenty minutes to talk about all the different guys who asked her. Even Pig-Pen and Roy were talking about the dance at lunch, albeit they had much different plans than anybody else.

"You guys are assholes, you know that?" I walked to the lunch table with my tray of mystery meat (which I'm pretty sure is just a piece of seasoned rubber) just in time to hear Franklin yelling at the two of them.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Roy said nonchalantly, "Franklin's just being a funbuster."

"A funbuster?!"

"Yeah, someone who goes around ruining everyone else's fun!" Pig-Pen added.

"Oh I'm being the 'funbuster'? You guys are the real funbusters!"

"Funbuster?" I said confused once again. People always seem to be inventing words around here.

Franklin continued, "These idiots are planning on pulling some prank at the homecoming dance! They're going to ruin for everybody else!"

Pig-Pen rolled his eyes, "Come on Franklin, everyone knows that if you didn't get a date you'd be in on this too!"

Roy then started laughing, "And about that! Aren't you going to tell us who the lucky lady is?"

Franklin scoffed, "Oh yeah sure, I'm going to let you idiots know who I'm going with so you guys can go and chase her off for me!"

Pig-Pen pointed at him, "I knew it! You're not going to name her because she isn't real! You're making her up!"

Roy added, "Oh wait Pig-Pen, he must have met her on the internet! That's why! She's totally real!"

Franklin retorted, "Fine, you'll see tonight then. I'll kick your asses if you guys do anything to mess it up anyway. Besides, you're no one to make fun of me Roy. We all know that Peppermint Patty shot you down earlier!"

"You asked Peppermint Patty out?!" I asked shocked.

Roy snarled, "Well it's really none of your business Charlie Brown, but yeah I did. I guess you can say I was desperate. I told her off good when she shot me down! Who needs her, she's a freaking moron anyway!"

I suddenly felt a surge of anger! Roy was the reason Peppermint Patty was so upset yesterday! He must have insulted her after she turned him down! I wanted to curse him out, but I figured everyone would gang up against me anyway so I kept quiet.

Pig-Pen laughed, "Man Roy that is pretty pathetic. I mean that's Charlie Brown level pathetic right there!" Pig-Pen then quickly added, "er-no offense Charlie Brown. It's just an expression everyone uses and all."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm used to it Pig-Pen…"

"Ah right. Anyway Roy, come on Roy! Getting turned down by Peppermint Patty!? You got to be really sad to have that happen!"

Roy snapped back, "Pig-Pen? Do you even talk to girls?!"

Pig-Pen immediately shut up and went red in the face.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Like any high school dance that you see on TV our school's dance took place in the gym. Linus and I entered together with Lucy and Schroeder. I wore some dumpy second hand suit I had lying around but Linus went all out. He was wearing a pinstriped suit and one of those puffy shirts that a pirate would wear under it. Lucy looked pretty nice in her blue dress and Schroeder had a normal suit on, though the expression he wore on his face was one of sheer disgust. The gym was decorated for homecoming and there was a fairly large turnout. They did the naming of the homecoming royalty early on: I didn't know who the king/queen were since they were seniors as well as the junior and sophomore ranks. For the Freshman the winners were unsurprisingly Shermy for Count and the Little Red Haired Girl for Countess. Shermy oddly wasn't available to accept his title; in fact no one knew where he was.

"um…Hello everyone…I'm Marcie and I'll be filling in for Shermy tonight who couldn't make it as your DJ. Um I've never really done this before but I hope you all enjoy yourselves!" She then began to play her mix of music, which mostly consisted of 80s songs.

Noticing Marcie's selection of music Linus noted, "Is she really playing _Total Eclipse of the Heart_?! When's she going to get to the _Safety Dance!?_"

I laughed and looked around at all of the happy couples…well at the couples nonetheless. Lucy was trying to dance with Schroeder who was standing perfectly still. Molly Volley who dancing with a younger boy named Bobby Boobie, "Crybaby's" younger brother (who I think was still in middle school). "Crybaby", who was dancing with "Bad Call" Benny, didn't take too kindly to this, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY BROTHER YOU DIRTY CRADLE ROBBER!"

"SHUT UP CRYBABY!!" Bobby looked positively mortified but I knew that he knew better than to say anything.

As a new song started playing Linus nudged me, "Alright, watch me make my move on Ms. Othmar!" He confidently walked off and started talking with Ms. Othmar who mostly just ignored him, occasionally giving him a one word response. I decided to leave him to his own devices. I went over to the punch bowl where I saw Pig-Pen and Roy, both looking around suspiciously. I decided not to even bother them about whatever prank they were going to pull and just watched the other kids dance. It is a very lonely feeling: going to a dance and knowing that nobody wants to be with you. That's why I didn't want to go; I knew that I'd be on the sidelines while everyone else was having a good time.

Marcie's voice once again boomed over the crowd, "Ladies and Gentleman we have a very special treat for you tonight. I'd like to ask everyone to clear the floor for our special guest: Flashbeagle!" Confused murmurs spread throughout the gym and then I saw him.

My dog, Snoopy, was dressed up in a ridiculous 80's outfit and began doing the most 80s style dance I ever saw.

"_He steps on the floor without making a sound_

_Then he starts feeling the beat_

_You would think the floor was greased_

_By the way he's moving his feet_

_He's a champion  
He is the best  
Impossible to tame  
People say that he's obsessed  
Listen to the sound of his name  
They call him Flash- Flash- Flash- Flash- Flaaaashbeagle  
When he goes around the whole room starts to reel  
You know he's Flash- Flash- Flash- Flash- Flaaaashbeagle  
When he jumps up high he glides like a wild eagle"_

As the song played Snoopy would dance and jump around like your typical 80s dance star. It was amusing to say the least, but I've seen Snoopy do cooler things. I went back and poured myself some punch, where I bumped into Franklin who was staring into the crowd.

"Hey Franklin, what's up. Is something wrong?"

He blinked and then jerked his head towards me, "What?! Oh no, sorry Charlie Brown, I was just thinking."

"Oh, about what."

"Don't worry about it…"

"Oh sorry…" I stood with Franklin; it was kind of awkward… "Um so where's your date?"

"I guess you can say she stood me up." That explains why he seemed so upset.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that Franklin, I know exactly how that is, it stinks."

"Yeah, well I don't really think it's her fault or anything. I mean I think she would have liked to go with me, it's just she's busy and everything…" I know exactly what Franklin was doing: he was trying to rationalize things to think that it wasn't as bad as it really was. I do that sometimes when I get stood up. It might help a little bit, but deep down the feeling of getting stood up still eats you alive. "What about you Charlie Brown, why aren't you on the dance floor?"

"Well isn't it obvious, who's going to want to dance with a blockhead like me?"

"You can't go around thinking like that Charlie Brown. There are plenty of girls here around here who don't have a date and I'm sure who love to dance with anybody. Besides, I'm too bitter right now to go and dance with anybody." He smiled at me. "Come on Charlie Brown we paid 15 bucks to go to this thing. At least one of us should have fun." At that moment I saw her, sitting on a chair at the side of the auditorium. It made sense! The Little Red Haired Girl didn't have a date. For whatever reason, Shermy, the guy she was supposed to dance with, wasn't here! This could be my big chance.

Marcie started playing that Bryan Adams that keeps getting remixed. I took a cup of punch, gulped it and wiped my mouth with my arm. I said, "You're completely right Franklin. I hope you feel better but I got a girl to dance with!"

"That's what I want to hear, Charlie Brown!" He slapped me on the back and I made my way up to the girl of my dreams. Nothing was going to stop me!

"_Now nothin' can take you away from me  
We bin down that road before  
But that's over now  
You keep me comin' back for more"_

"Watch where you're going blockhead! Why are you even on the dance floor you little dweeb?!" I of course bumped into Violet. I didn't care though!

"Out of my way Violet, I don't have time for you!" She made a nasty face at me but moved aside.

"_And love is all that I need  
And I found it there in your heart  
It isn't too hard to see  
We're in heaven"_

I still had to navigate myself through a thick crowd. I saw out of the corner of my eye Linus talking to the cheerleader Frieda. I guess his big plans with Ms. Othmar didn't come to pass. He looked happy with Frieda though, and I'm not going to lie, I'd take her in an instant.

"_Oh, once in your life you find someone  
Who will turn your world around  
Bring you up when you're feelin' down"_

I stopped in my tracks, my heart completely sank. She was dancing with somebody else…Snoopy, my own dog. He even winked at me to seal the deal. I sighed and turned around. I wasn't about to watch my own dog get the girl. I was going to go to the punch bowl and drown my sorrows. Maybe I'd have another one of those sandwich snacks they had at the refreshments table. Nothing goes with unrequited love like some dance refreshments after all.

"Hey Chuck?! It looks like you don't have a dance partner!" I bumped right into Peppermint Patty.

I looked down at my feet, "Oh, I really can't dance or anything, I think I'm just going to go back to the punch bowl."

"Oh nonsense Chuck! Remember back when I had that News Years party and we did the Foxtrot at that dance class? You were great! Come on." She grabbed me and put her arms on my shoulders.

"_I've bin waitin' for so long  
For something to arrive  
For love to come along"_

"Oh…um…" I really had no idea how to dance at all.

"Come on Chuck, it's a slow song, put your hands on my hips." I must have immediately gone red as Peppermint Patty started laughing. "It's alright Chuck; I'm not going to slug you." The two of us then started dancing. I was really clumsy, but I guess she expected that. Once I stopped paying attention to not stepping on her feet I got a good look at her. She actually looked really pretty. She was wearing a orange dress and did her hair really nice. I don't know, I just felt really happy dancing there with her. For that moment in time, I didn't really care that my dog was getting dancing with the Little Red Haired Girl.

"You know Chuck, I always…"

"NOW PIG-PEN!" Roy screamed.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO USE NAMES YOU MORON! IT'S AGENT SOOTSTAIN!" Suddenly a horrible odor filled my nostrils. I let go of Peppermint Patty and starting coughing.

"Dammit "Agent Sootstain! The smoke bombs! You were supposed to do the smoke bombs first!" Smoke then began to fill the entire room. Everyone was coughing because of the smell and bumping into each other.

I grabbed Peppermint Patty's hand, "Come on *gack* let's get out of here!"

As I lead her out of the gymnasium I heard Molly Volley yell, "When I catch whoever did this they'll wish they were dead!"

Lucy then screamed, "NOT IF I CATCH THEM FIRST SISTER! THEY'RE GOING TO PAY FOR MESSING UP MY DATE!"

A third voice, obviously Schroeder's then yelled, "THIS-IS-NOT-A-DATE!!!"

After about ten minutes of stumbling around in a stink and smoke filled crowd of people, we were finally able to make our way out of the gym. We saw Lucy and Molly Volley talking happily to one another as they stood besides the unconscious and beaten up bodies of Pig-Pen and Roy. Peppermint Patty stopped us to take a look at the two of them. A lot of other kids were spitting on their bodies or throwing things at them. "Keep this image of them in your mind Chuck. Cause they are obviously going to be bragging about this on Monday!"

……………………………………………………………………………………………....

The next morning I met Linus at our favorite stone wall, where we've stopped and talked by since we were kids. Linus, like many people I wager, was very annoyed at Pig-Pen and Roy's prank.

"I can't believe them! I was hitting it up with Frieda! I bet I could have gotten her number!"

I nudged him with my elbow, "What about Ms. Othmar, eh Linus?"

"Pft, she just can't handle a guy like me."

"Right, I'm sure that's what it is."

Linus began to smirk, "What about you Casanova? I saw you dancing with Peppermint Patty to some Bryan Adams. You got the moves, Charlie Brown!"

"Hah yeah, I'm sure that qualified as dancing. So, you and Frieda eh?"

Linus shrugged, "Hey you never know. She's a babe so I'd totally be up for that. But I think those two morons ruined my chance. She was way too quick to high tail it out of there."

"Sheesh Linus, can you blame her? Those two set off and both stink and smoke bombs!"

"I don't know…I was cock-blocked, Charlie Brown!"

"Oh good grief!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_Schroeder thought to himself that he needed to remember to thank Pig-Pen and Roy. Their prank managed to end that horrible dance much earlier than it was supposed to go on for. He had heard that they had gotten a month of after school detention for that stunt, but their pain was his gain._

_He was getting sick of having Lucy latch on to him all of the time. It got to the point where he could barely practice his piano before her incessant nagging would begin again. He had tried everything he could think of to get her to leave him alone, but nothing seemed to get through that thick skull of hers. _

_He was going for a walk, and noticed Charlie Brown and Linus talking by the stone wall. He made sure to duck around them so they wouldn't notice him, he was getting annoyed with them too: they just didn't seem to care about his concerns about his musical future. _

_Schroeder felt another surge of anger thinking about Charlie Brown and Linus's indifference to his plight. He didn't need those idiots though, he had made some new friends; and they were a lot better than those idiot blockheads that he had wasted his time with before._


	4. And You're Not Invited, Charlie Brown!

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 3: …And You're Not Invited!

After that homecoming dance fiasco, things quieted down for the next couple of weeks. Pig-Pen and Roy had landed themselves a month's worth of after school detention which they of course felt was completely unwarranted. Until around early October they had also taken my place as Violet's primary verbal victims due to how they messed up the dance for everybody, which I must admit was a very nice reprieve for me. Linus was also still pretty steamed at them for messing up his chances with Frieda although they held that if he actually did have a chance with her their prank wouldn't have made any difference.

Just because Pig-Pen and Roy were taking the brunt of the school's hatred that is usually reserved for me didn't mean that things were going great though. Schroeder still remained in an incredibly foul mood and refused to talk about it with anybody. He had been getting into a lot more arguments with Lucy too, which made her even crabbier which doesn't bode well for anybody. Furthermore, I had resolved to spend my Thursday nights tutoring Peppermint Patty in history: a task that was proving increasingly impossible. It's not that she's stupid or anything, she just couldn't bring herself to concentrate for the life of her. Every week I'd have to deal with her either turning on the TV in the middle of a lesson, calling other people on the phone, doodling, and occasionally having to wake her up after she'd randomly fall asleep.

By the end of October we were still covering mid September topics. "Come on! Who fought in the Civil War? I know you know this!" Peppermint Patty was too busy watching the football game to really pay attention. "Patty!"

She stumbled, "OH! Um the Atlantic and the Pacific!" She flashed me a quick grin and quickly went back to watching football.

"Come on we gave a presentation on this!" I use the term we very lightly. I had did most of the presenting while she criticized me on my posture and public speaking skills as I was trying to present. "Come on…the Union and the…"

"Oh! The Union and the Teamsters!"

"AUGH!"

"The Teamsters won right? I keep hearing about them and all of their demands!"

Marcie was right; I should have never signed on for this!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The calendar seemed to go into overdrive as the days passed in October. It seemed like we were all getting apprehensive over midterms in late November-early December, yet with the exception of Marcie, we were all pretty much procrastinating. Peppermint Patty wasn't making much progress with History, and I was still pretty clueless about Biology. Most people instead decided to focus on what they were going to be for Halloween. Falling on a Saturday this year, many people were excited to have the entire day off to either trick or treat or go to a party or whatnot. This didn't really excite me though; I had given up trick or treating in middle school: I could only take so many rocks and crushed hopes. As for the prospect of a Halloween party; I knew not to get my hopes up.

Most of my teachers didn't acknowledge the holiday, except for Ms. Othmar, who had decided to dedicate the class on the Friday before Halloween to going over some old Halloween folklore. As a group we discussed famous Halloween themed, or just general ghost stories like the Legend of Sleepy Hallow as well as some of the historical folklore surrounding the holiday. After talking a bit about the Weird Sisters, brought up by Schroeder, Linus raised his hand in order to volunteer his favorite Halloween legend.

"The legend I'm going to talk about is actually very much based in truth. You could possibly say that my lifelong pursuit has been of this legend." He couldn't possibly say what I thought he was going to say. I shot a look at Schroeder who shook his head. Linus was too old for this now. The blanket was one thing, but this is taking things too far. "On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin travels the world in search of the most sincere pumpkin patch! The one who he has selected is then granted a plethora of gifts!" Half the class began to laugh while the other half looked scared. One kid, Maynard, let out a particularly loud snort.

"Oh sure laugh, but I've seen him before! And we'll see who's laughing tomorrow night when he visits me and my sincere pumpkin patch!" Those who weren't laughing by then started.

Ms. Othmar, not sure how to handle this, said, "Well, that sure was interesting Linus. Um who else has a Halloween Legend to discuss? Perhaps something more mainstream class?"

I whispered to Linus, "You aren't serious, right? You're not really going to wait for the Great Pumpkin."

Linus looked taken aback, "Of course I'm going to wait for him!"

"But you're 13! Aren't you a little old for this Linus?"

Linus scoffed, "I'm a man who sticks to his beliefs, Charlie Brown. Even in the face of the cynicism that is adolescence, I refuse to compromise what I believe in!"

I decided to drop it right then and there; there wasn't any point in deterring him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I can't believe Linus is still talking about that pumpkin!" I had resolved not to spread Linus's outbursts in English to anybody else, but news travels very fast regardless. Pig-Pen was busting at the seams about this. "He's in high school! He can't seriously believe in that thing he made up!"

Trying to take the heat off of Linus I remarked, "My sister is in eighth grade and she still writes letters to Santa Claus." I shuddered as I recalled the many years trying to break it to her that he wasn't real, and her furious denial.

"I still don't get it, he believes in a pumpkin man or something?" Roy never knew Linus that well beyond a summer camp they spent together, so he never heard about the Great Pumpkin before.

"I'm not sure what exactly the Great Pumpkin is…just that Linus sure believes in it firmly."

Franklin sighed, "I sure hope he doesn't waste another Halloween night in that pumpkin patch." It was kind of sad, Linus never has had a normal Halloween as far back as I can remember at least. Every Halloween night he would wait at this old pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive, and every year, he'd never come. He'd usually end up passing out and sleeping in the pumpkin patch until someone, like Lucy or myself, would find him and lead him to his bead.

Another, female voice, entered into the conversation, "That moron better quit it about the Great Gord or whatever it is, or else he's going to miss out on the greatest party of the year!" It was Violet, who had Patty in tow behind her. She gave pieces of paper to Pig-Pen, Roy, and Franklin, "It's tomorrow night starting at five! Costumes are encouraged but not required. And…" she then glared at me, "it's invite ONLY!"

Franklin stopped her as she was walking away, "Wait, you didn't give Charlie Brown an invitation!"

She looked shocked, "Why the heck would I ever invite Charlie Brown." She said it as if I wasn't sitting right there. I slunk into my seat. "No one wants him there!"

Franklin threw his invitation on the table, "Well if he's not invited, then we're not invited!"

Pig-Pen quickly butted in, "Now let's not get hasty here Franklin."

Roy then added in a whisper, "How often are we going to get invited to a Violet Grey party?!"

Franklin glared in shock at them, "Do you two have any spine?!"

Violet just rolled her eyes, "Whatever, do what you want. I just don't want to see your ugly face there Charlie Brown, you'll ruin things for everybody." She and Patty then walked away to another table to pass out invitations.

Franklin muttered through gritted teeth, "Who the hell does she think she is?!"

I quickly gave a nervous chuckle and said, "Oh don't worry, I'm used to it!" and then quickly resumed eating my peanut butter sandwich. Sure, I may have been used to be treated like a leper, but it still didn't make it hurt any less.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So they went out of their way to invite Franklin, Pig-Pen, and Roy in front of you and then told you that you aren't invited."

"That's the gist of it. What should I do Lucy?" I was waiting for Lucy to get her stuff at her locker before heading to the bus with her.

"I should think its pretty simple Charlie Brown; they don't want you to go to that party, so you shouldn't go."

I sighed, "Great, everyone is going to be having fun tomorrow, and I'm going to be left out."

Lucy slammed her locker closed, "Look Charlie Brown, I don't see my psychiatric booth anywhere so don't complain to me right now. I'm actually looking forward to that party and I don't need to hear you complaining about it!"

I muttered, "You're a real pal, you know that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, look I just know my stupid brother isn't going to go tomorrow either. He's going to wait for that stupid pumpkin to not show up. Why don't you keep him company!?"

"I guess I will." It was a fairly depressing thought; all I had to look forward to this Halloween was babysitting my friend as he waited for an imaginary pumpkin man to deliver him gifts. Everyone else would be having fun at Violet's party and I'll be freezing my butt off in a pumpkin patch. Man…I bet Violet even invited the Little Red Haired Girl. Man if I was invited I could finally talk to her!

"Good! You can bring him home this year then! That's one last thing I can worry about!" Great, and now I can't do anything but wait in that pumpkin patch.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The next day was Halloween, and I had completely surrendered to the fact that it would be horrible. At five everyone would be going to Violet's party and I'd be waiting for a pumpkin.

"I don't know why you're so hung up about not going to Violet's. I got invited and I'm not going." I decided to take a walk with Linus because neither of us had anything better to do.

"Yeah, but you never go to Halloween parties because you're waiting for the Great Pumpkin."

"Even it I didn't wait for him, I still don't think I'd go to Violet's. You know how much of a witch she is, she's just going to go and belittle her guests. Her parties are little else but outlets for her ever swelling ego. I can't see it being very fun for anybody."

"Yeah I guess…" I still wasn't feeling much better though, "It would have still be nice to be invited to _something_ though."

"Pft, what are you bitching about man? You're going to meet the Great Pumpkin tonight! What could be better than that!?"

"Gee, I don't know Linus…" He didn't pick up on the sarcasm. He did however notice that not being invited was eating at me.

"Look Charlie Brown, I know Violet went out of her way to let you know you weren't welcome, but she's a bitch. Don't let it get to you."

"She's not the only one who treats me like crap though. Most of the school does."

Linus laughed, "Trust me, I don't have it much better. You just got to remember though that you do have friends, and they're a hell of a lot more important than any of the other jerks that go to our school."

"Yeah I guess…"

"And quality is a lot better than quantity. Violet may be the most popular girl in the school, but how many real friends does she have? Patty's nothing more than a no self-esteem sidekick and no one even sees Shermy anymore. In fact I bet Violet is mean to you because she's jealous of you."

Linus must have been already delusional because it was Halloween, "What could she possibly be jealous of me about?!"

"You have a lot of really close friends. It might not seem apparent but you do Charlie Brown. I mean you got me and ole' Snoopy to back you up anytime. And you also have Peppermint Patty and Marcie; the four of us have been best of friends since elementary school. Plus there's Schroeder and even" he groaned, "Lucy…"

I guess he did make sense, though I still couldn't see Violet really being jealous of me. Linus however did turn my attention to something else, "I don't know too much about Schroeder, he seems like he's been trying to avoid me for a while."

Linus's smile faded and he nodded, "Yeah, I know how you feel. I haven't spoken to him much. I know he's in a real funk about the Julliard thing and I've been trying to get him to open up about it a bit; I figure he could use someone to talk about it too…and I figure my sister probably wouldn't be the best person."

I laughed, "Amen to that!"

"I'm sure he'll come around eventually though. He's always been very independent, he can get through this."

I was pretty sure Linus was right, we all have or low points in life, Schroeder would be able to get out of this funk. I just wish he'd act a little nicer in the meantime.

We continued walking for a little while as we began to discuss Joe Shlabotnik's recent controversial book detailing the scandals that caused him to be bumped to the minor league, "More than one Bloop: Major Leauge Baseball's Scapegoat".

As I was trying to defend Joe I was interrupted by a barrage of eggs that were being pelted at me. "Augh! What the…"

"Hahahah!!" It was a very familiar laugh, as I wiped egg off of my face I looked up to see Thibault; on his bicycle, carrying a carton of eggs under his shoulder. "Happy Halloween, Blockhead!"

I muttered, "I hate this holiday…."

Thibault looked over to Linus, "Sheesh, get a load of this guy! What's with the blanket?! Here, have a Halloween treat you faggot!" Thibault tossed some eggs at Linus and proceeded to ride away laughing. He didn't happen to see though that Linus had caught the eggs safely in his blanket, and was now swinging an egg in his blanket with very high angular momentum. Linus took aim and one moment later Thibault was pelted in the back of the head with an egg and fell off his bike.

Linus smirked, "No one makes fun of my blanket more than once, Charlie Brown."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

As 5:00 arrived that day I was already feeling pretty cruddy. I had to throw my clothes that were egged into the wash and had to deal with my sister who was complaining that Linus wasn't going to Violet's party and then completely ignored my lamenting of not being invited. All she had to say when I told her I wasn't invited was, "Why would you be?"

Sally eventually left leaving the house to me. Like usual, my parents were out somewhere; most of the time I'm not even sure what they do. Even Snoopy had someplace to be. I saw him earlier marching around his doghouse…or Sopwith Camel rather in his normal Halloween ritual of chasing down the Red Baron. His battles with the Baron are of course not restricted to Halloween…he usually does this at least once a month, but he always makes a special production on Halloween. He must have crashed by now and his behind enemy lines or something.

With nothing else to do except watch bad Halloween specials on TV I decided to go on the computer. I figured no one else would be online; Linus was already at the pumpkin patch and I didn't have any intention of meeting him for a few hours if I needed to get him home when he finally passes out and anyone else on my small buddy list would certainly be at Violet's party.

To my surprise there was one other person who wasn't away: PeppySlugga better known of course as Peppermint Patty. Almost immediately she messaged me.

_PeppySlugga: hey chuck s up_

_Schlabot4Majors_ (my screen name): _Heya Patty. Nothing much, same as always. Why arnet you Violet's party?_

_PeppySlugga: that bithc didnt invit me _(Peppermint Patty wasn't exactly much of a typist).

_Schlabot4Majors: Yeah same here, she actually went out of my way to tell me I wasnt invited…_

_PeggySlugga: she realy pisses me of chcuk!!11 well me n marcie r hanging out if ur not doing nethin_

_Schlabot4Majors: Sure, what do you guys want to do?_

_PeppgSlugga: oh we hav a plan to get bac that b##$ voilet! met us bye the wall_

Despite her atrocious typing I could make out to meet her by the usual wall that we go to contemplate things. I was however very apprehensive about whatever she had in mind in getting back at Violet.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I met Peppermint Patty and Marcie by the wall. Marcie was holding a full bag and was looking fairly anxious. "Sir, I don't really think this is a good idea; besides I should really be heading home…"

Peppermint Patty groaned, "It's Halloween Marcie! What could you possibly need to go home for?!"

Marcie looked slightly embarrassed, "I sort of have this Halloween tradition…"

Peppermint Patty rolled her eyes, "Oh good grief, not that again!?" Marcie nodded, "Fine, we'll make this quick then, you got the eggs right?"

I looked at Marcie's bag, "Eggs?"

Marcie opened the bag to show the eggs to Peppermint Patty but then quickly closed it, "I really don't think this is such a good idea, I don't consider myself a vandal, sir."

Peppermint Patty stomped her foot, "It's Halloween Marcie! Everyone does this!"

I had a feeling I knew what Patty was talking about and I didn't like the idea, "Do what Patty?" I tried to ask in a stern tone.

"We're going to egg Violet's! It'll show that stuck up snot what she gets for not inviting us!"

Marcie looked at her feet, "I don't think I should be doing this, I mean Violet did invite me…"

Patty and I both looked at Marcie, I was surprised but Patty looked enraged, "What do you mean?! She actually invited you?!"

Marcie blushed, "Well yeah, but when I heard from Franklin that she wouldn't invite you two I declined her offer."

Peppermint Patty began to mumble, "She's defiantly getting egged now…." And then said to Marcie, "Come on! Stand up for me and Chuck! Let's teach that Violet a lesson!"

Marcie looked really nervous and I quickly spoke up, "Marcie you don't have to do anything. I'd rather not go and egg anybody's house myself."

Peppermint Patty groaned, "You two really are a bunch of wimps sometimes! Fine, give me those eggs Marcie, I'll do it myself! Come on you two!"

We followed Peppermint Patty to Violet's place which was probably the nicest house on her block. It used to be on par with everybody else's but her dad recently started his own business: Grey Enterprises, which has really begun to take off. Because of all the money coming in they were constantly improving their house. My dad sometimes says that they are connected to the mob but I doubt that's true. The place was insanely decorated and you could tell there was a party going on hearing the music blasting from outside as well as seeing people through the windows.

Peppermint Patty grabbed an egg and lobbed it straight at the side of Violet's house. Surprisingly, while it did break open, it didn't make too much of a mess, the egg still seemed fairly solid. Peppermint Patty quickly grabbed another egg and peeled it's shell off revealing a hardboiled egg.

"Marcie you moron! You hardboiled the eggs?!?"

"Yes sir, aren't you supposed to hard boil eggs on Halloween?"

Peppermint Patty gasped, dumbstruck, "That's EASTER Marcie! EASTER!!"

Marcie shrugged, "What's the deal with holidays and eggs anyway?! I'm supposed to boil them for Easter but not for Halloween? What should I have done, scrambled them?"

Peppermint Patty turned to me for help but I quickly backed away leaving Patty to try to explain, "No, no, no! Why would we want to throw scrambled eggs at someone's house?!"

Marcie stated very matter-of-factly, "Well I wouldn't appreciate anybody tossing scrambled eggs at my house sir."

Peppermint Patty's face began to redden; I shot her a quick glance that pleaded with her to calm down. She took a deep breath and shrugged. "Marcie, you really are weird."

Marcie sighed, "Look sorry about the eggs, but I still think it's wrong to go egging people, if even they are jerks. Anyway, I really have to get going, have a Happy Halloween guys."

I smiled at her and wished her the same. I then turned to Peppermint Patty and said, "We had better get going, I don't want Violet thinking we're stalking anybody…"

"Yeah you're probably right Chuck; we just need to find something to do."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_"This party stinks…" Sally Brown muttered to herself as she unwrapped her eight Recess cup of the night. Without Linus, there really wasn't much of a reason for her to be at this party, the only person she talked to that was present was Lucy, and she was very preoccupied following Schroeder around to talk to Sally. "I guess it's better than the alternative" she sighed, "I wouldn't be caught dead wasting my Halloween in a stupid pumpkin patch again." _

_Sally took a sip of punch; some of the kids had snuck beer in but she didn't want any of that, if her parents…or brother especially thought that she was drinking she'd surely never hear the end of it. She also would have rather not been like Pig-Pen, who was currently quite drunk and hitting on a disgusted Frieda. As he went to compliment her on her beautiful hair for the fifth time in about two minutes he knocked into a very expensive looking vase which was only saved by a quick dive by Violet, who had grown increasingly annoyed at Pig-Pen's antics over the night. Trying to spare him from Violet's wrath, Roy and Franklin quickly lead him to her couch hoping he couldn't do any more damage. They were quite wrong as he had quickly spread himself out on the couch, rubbing his dirty sneakers onto the leather. Violet was quick to berate him._

_"Just what the heck do you think you're doing Pig-Pen?!"_

_"Oh I'm jusht kicking back!" He then began kicking his sneakers together, scattering dirt all over Violet's couch._

_Violet grew red in the face, "That couch is worth more than you, you dirty slob!" Violet had greatly regretted inviting Pig-Pen, she had only did it to make Charlie Brown feel even worse; she had forgotten why Pig-Pen was also commonly on the do not invite list. Truth be told the entire party wasn't going the way she thought. Before dealing with Pig-Pig she spent a good half hour trying to kick that beagle of Charlie Brown's, who was dressed as some war hero, out of her house before he drank her out of root beer. Shermy and Patty had disappeared as well and she resolved to not think about what they were up to. She was left to deal with Pig-Pen and his friends between trying to entertain her other guests. The other guests weren't that great either according to Violet. Frieda couldn't keep her mouth shut and would talk anybody's ears off. Her current victim was '5' who didn't seem to mind, though Violet noted that it may have been because he has the personality of a rock. Sally was being reclusive and moody, obviously because Linus wasn't there. Violet didn't feel too guilty though, she had invited him after all. _

_Of all the guests, the one who was bugging her most (other than Pig-Pen of course) was Lucy. Lucy was all over Schroeder the entire night: kissing his ear, giving him hugs, rubbing her hand on his knee…it was pathetic. The whole night she had been asking stupid questions, "Schroeder when we're married what kind of candy we will hand out to the trick or treaters?" or "What should we dress our children up for on Halloween." As a kid Schroeder used to come up with some snappy comeback, or at least scream that there was no chance of that happening. Now he just sat there blankly as she prattled on. It was amazing that she never got the hint, Schroeder was just not interested in her at all: he never has been and never will be. Violet truthfully couldn't see why Lucy liked Schroeder so much. Yeah he was a good pianist and all, but what that really didn't mean much these days; he sure wouldn't be a big money maker. He also had too much of an attitude for Violet's tastes. _

_"Alright sweetie pie, I'm going to get us some punch, you wait here for me." Violet watched as Lucy left Schroeder for what was probably the first time the entire night. Her eyes drifted towards Schroeder and she saw the look he gave Lucy; a look of intense hatred and malice. Violet knew a fair amount of people that disliked her; and she could admit that her haughty attitude was the cause for that, but never in her life had she had seen a look of pure contempt that she saw in Schroeder's eyes. Perhaps if she was really close to Lucy, she would have said something, but she figured this was none of her business. Even still Schroeder's stare gave her chills. However she soon forgot all about that when Pig-Pen knocked over her fathers' favorite glass statue causing it to smash all over the floor._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I really can't believe Violet; she went out of her way to invite our friends while making sure we knew very well we weren't invited. I can't stand her Chuck!" Peppermint Patty and I were sitting under our favorite tree, near the baseball field (which of course was heavily toilet papered.)

I sighed, "She invited Roy, Franklin, and Pig-Pen in front of me and then told me I had better not show up…how did she break it to you?"

"Man that's rough Chuck. She tried keeping it a secret from me. When I confronted her she laughed and the bell rang right before I could slug her!"

I laughed, "That would have been something to see."

Patty groaned, "This always happens…they are always leaving us out of things. Why does nobody like us Chuck?"

"I don't know why they don't invite you, but I know I'm a boring loser. Plus I'm kind of creepy too…I guess I can't really blame them for not wanting me there."

"Oh sheesh! There you go talking like that again! The problem isn't with us Chuck, it's with them!"

I appreciated Peppermint Patty's attempts to make me feel better, but they usually didn't work, "Eh I don't know, it just stinks that everybody seems to hate me."

"Not everybody Chuck! You still got me, and I'm not going anywhere any time soon!" She slapped me on the back. I smiled at her. "Even still, it stinks that there's nothing to do tonight. Everyone else is having fun but us."

I sighed, "I promised I'd wait for the Great Pumpkin with Linus. You could come with me."

She stared at me blankly for a moment, "You're kidding right, he's not really still doing that is he?" I nodded. "Jesus, I remember when I first met you guys he had convinced me to waste my Halloween. I felt so stupid. I vowed I'd never do that again." She thought to herself for a moment and then rolled her eyes, "But it's not like I have anything else to do, so I guess I'll go with you."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"He'll be here any minute you guys. Just take a look at this place, not an ounce of hypocrisy to be found!" It was 11:57; we had waited with him for about 3 hours already. "Just think you guys, the Great Pumpkin is going to shower us with gifts!"

Patty muttered, "Tell the Great Pumpkin I only accept cash and checks."

"I really appreciate you guys waiting with me tonight, I'm sure everyone else is busy laughing at me; but they'll see! I'll be laughing one he arrives tonight!" Linus already looked exhausted, he had been waiting here for like 6 hours already.

"How much longer are we supposed to wait?" Patty complained.

I whispered, "Linus usually doesn't make it past midnight, he'll pass out soon and then we can bring him home."

"I hear something!" Right on time, Linus is now at the point of being deliriously tired. "Listen! Listen!" He was right! I heard the bushes rustling! "It's him! It's the Great Pumpkin!"

Peppermint Patty was on guard, "Watch out, it might be some drunk hobo!"

A familiar silhouette rose from the pumpkin patch. Linus stared in awe, "I-i-it's him…" He then staggered and fainted.

"What is it Chuck…." I took a good look at the figure and then started laughing.

"Don't worry, it's just the World War I Flying Ace!"

"What?!"

"You know, Snoopy…"

"Oh…"

Snoopy, dressed in his Roy Brown attire spotted us and quickly darted back into the pumpkin patch. I began to narrate for Patty, "Here's the World War One Flying Ace, shot down at the Rhine, sneaking through enemy lines."

"That's one funny kid, Chuck. Now come on, let's get Linus home before we all catch something!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Thanks again for getting Linus home, you guys saved me a lot of trouble." The two of us with some difficulty managed to lead a sleep-walking Linus back to his bed where we greeted by Lucy.

"Anytime Lucy."

"I hope he wasn't acting too stupid…"

I smiled, "Just like he normally does."

Lucy grimaced, "Oh brother."

Peppermint Patty sighed, "I can't believe he's still doing this."

Lucy frowned, "I don't think Linus wants to ever grow up. He still clings to that blanket too. I have no idea how he's going to cope in this world." The three of us stood in awkward silence for a moment until Patty cleared her throat.

"So, how was Violets?" she tried asking as nonchalantly as possible.

Lucy shrugged, "It wasn't anything special. Someone, I think Shermy, snuck in beer so Pig-Pen got really drunk. Oh and Violet's angry at you Charlie Brown because Snoopy crashed her party."

I groaned, "Oh good grief!"

Lucy snapped her fingers, "Oh, I just remembered!" She walked into the kitchen and walked out with two bags full of candy. "I took these from Violet's. They were Pig-Pen's and Roy's but Violet kicked them out so they couldn't take them. They're goody bags. I figured you guys might want them."

"Wow, thanks Lucy!"

Lucy sighed, "Yeah it was really nasty of Violet not to invite you guys, so I figured the least I could do was make sure you get some Halloween candy."

I smiled as I looked at my Halloween candy. It may have not been originally intended for me, but I'd take it over a bag of rocks anytime.


	5. Interlude: The Flying Ace's Journey

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Interlude: The Flying Ace's Journey

So from what I understand, that Round Headed Kid told you about the events that transpired the Halloween of his freshman year of high school. If that is true than I believe you don't know the true story of what happened that fateful night. It's a good thing I'm here so that I may enlighten you.

It was a crisp autumn night; though chilly there wasn't a trace clouds: perfect for the feisty little trick or treaters… and perfect conditions for a dogfight. As a World War One Flying Ace, I knew to expect to be called upon at any time and thus wasn't surprised when I heard from Allied Command that my eternal nemesis: Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, was spotted on patrol above the Rhine. Any previous engagements I had for the night were off: I had a date with fate.

……………………………………………………………………………………………....

There is nothing that brings out somebody's character like a dog fight. It's more than just quick reflexes and a good trigger finger; it takes character. You need to keep a cool head: showing even one iota of fear is enough to get you killed. I had to keep my mind clear as I fought that Baron; I couldn't let his 80 kill record scare me and cloud my judgment. I had to treat it like a game: stay on target and fire when the opportunity arises. The Baron has shot me down plenty of times in the past; this time he would be the one to fall.

When I first spotted him, I used the element of surprise to my advantage. The moment I had him in my reticule I opened fire; the plan worked well: he had only barely evaded my attack and had looked shaken. I launched another volley at him, cheering to myself when I saw that some bullets grazed his wing causing a thick trail of smoke to follow behind him.

I thought to myself that this was it. I was going to shoot down the Red Baron today! I imagined the reception that Allied command would have for me; I'd be the greatest hero in the war! That brief moment of fantasizing cost me dearly however. I had lost him; he wasn't in my sights! I looked around for any sign of him, but it was too late: he had already begun shooting from behind and had hit my tail. I was going down fast. I braced for a crash landing; something I was quite accustomed to and shouted at my rival, "CURSE YOU RED BARON!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I crawled through the abandoned trenches as swiftly as I could. My trusty Sopwith Camel had crashed a few miles back and I needed to make sure I was as far away from the wreckage as possible before a German search party could find me. I was fairly sure I was in friendly territory by now, but it was still not worth taking chances until I hit some sort of civilization. After an hour of sneaking I saw an allied building which I had recognized as a safe haven from my previous crashes. I knew I was still taking a chance by entering, but I was desperately hungry and thirsty and could use any form of rest. As I entered I saw that there was a Halloween celebration going on; I figured I might as well partake in the festivities for a bit before contacting Allied Command. I'm sure a few hours without their Flying Ace wouldn't hurt the war effort too much.

"SNOOPY! WHAT'S GOING ON!?!?" I turned around to see that of all people, my buddy Wop May was calling at me. He looked very messy and seemed to be quite intoxicated. I saluted him and he replied, "Oh you're the Ace again!?! That's rich man! GUYS GET A LOAD OF SNOOPY!"

A very angry girl dressed in green quickly whipped around and glared at me, "What are you talking about….Snoopy! What are you doing here?! I didn't invite you! Did Charlie Brown put you up to this?!" She seems to not like me…she must be a German collaborator! I had best stay away from her.

"Man Snoopy! Do that thing…you know that thing on your doghouse man!" Poor Wop really can't take his liquor it seems. He then tripped over himself causing two of his friends to rush over.

One of them, seemed to be a sailor judging by his hat, quickly offered, "Sorry about Pig-Pen Snoopy, he's had a bit too much to drink as you can see. In fact he's the only one here who's drank anything."

His other friend, a young African American it seemed, added, "I can't believe Violet let Shermy sneak in beer. If my parents knew there was drinking going on here I'd be dead."

"LIGHTEN UP FRANKLIN! You guys just don't know how to have fun!" It was at that point I decided to leave Wop to his friends. Instead I decided to go up to one of the locals: a very pretty red head with naturally curly hair.

I tapped her on the shoulder, _"Mind if I share a root beer with you, mademoiselle?"_

She stared at me, "Snoopy, what are you doing here? You should be out chasing rabbits!"

Chasing rabbits?! I immediately stormed off from that vile strumpet! I'm a respected war hero; I didn't need to take that. I walked over to the hostess and tapped her shoulder, "Excuse me, where can I get a nice cold root beer?"

She didn't take warmly to my presence, "God damn it Snoopy, get out of here!" She grabbed me by the collar, "You had better not come back here!" She started dragging me to the door.

_"You can't do this! I'm a war hero!"_

Wop May shouted too, "DON'T KICK HIM OUT VIOLET! SNOOP'S THE LIFE OF THE PARTY!"

"I'll kick you out next Pig-Pen if you don't shut up!" And with those words I was swiftly tossed out of the building, back into the cold fields of the Rhine.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I was traveling in a pumpkin patching, making sure to keep low, lest any German patrols were to spot me. It was a dangerous environment and I couldn't afford to be caught. It must have been around midnight; Halloween would soon be over; hopefully I'd live to see November.

"I really appreciate you guys waiting with me tonight, I'm sure everyone else is busy laughing at me; but they'll see! I'll be laughing one he arrives tonight!" Someone's here! Against my better judgment, I decided to see if I could get a peek if these voices were friendly or hostile. As I approached though my foot got tangled in a vine!

"I hear something!" I tried freeing my foot but that only created more noise.

"Listen! Listen! It's him! It's the Great Pumpkin!" Great Pumpkin?! That must be a German codeword! I was spotted! The only way to get free of the vine though would be to stand up and slip my foot through. I had to bank on the fact that they had only heard me, and not seen me.

"Watch out, it might be some drunk hobo!" _Slowly…slowly, don't let them see you,_ I thought to my self.

"I-i-it's him…"

"What is it Chuck…."

"Don't worry; it's just the World War I Flying Ace!" Dagnabit! They saw me! I made a beeline for it, I couldn't wait to see if they were following or not, I just had to keep running and not look back!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

After running for a seemingly endless amount of time, I nearly collapsed due to exhaustion. It was there when I saw a sight for sore eyes. A little French tavern that I was well acquainted with; I entered slowly, still wary of any enemy spies lurking around.

"Sheesh Snoopy, it's about time you arrived…it's 1:00am! I know this is a little tradition we have but you think you could come earlier next time." Ah! The cute little French barmaid who I have befriended years ago! This one has a soft spot for me she does; I've promised her before I'd take her to the states when the war is over; but alas there seems to be no end in sight! I slouched down in a chair at the nearest table and sighed. "Oh good grief are you really going to make me act this out Snoopy?" I shot the barmaid the cutest look ever, "Oh fine, I'm sure you'll get that Red Baron next time Ace. We all are cheering for you." She poured me a root beer and sat next to me. "The quicker you can bring me to the states." She kissed me on the cheek. Being a war hero sure does have its perks. "Now I hate to be rude Snoopy, but can you finish that root beer quickly, I really got to get up early tomorrow. I have an PreSAT prep course to go to and I am going to need to get up really early if I'm going to have any chance of dragging Peppermint Patty along. Oh and when you see him tell Charles I said hi."

I smiled as I sipped back the last of my root beer. Another action packed Halloween for the World War One Flying Ace.

_A/N: Happy Halloween everybody! May your pumpkin patches be sincere!_


	6. Lucy's Lament

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 4: Lucy's Lament

When mid-November came around the entire school was in a state of panic: mid-terms were approaching which forced those of us who barely opened up a textbook to start trying to cram as much information into our heads into the shortest amount of time possible. Luckily we had Marcie as a friend who had taken the liberty of organizing a study group for us. Our first meeting was at her house and we had agreed to meet every day until midterms and rotate houses. Our group consisted of Marcie, Peppermint Patty (who looked like a nervous wreck), Linus, Lucy, and Schroeder. We sat at her parent's indoor bar, where Snoopy has taken it upon himself to consume vast quantities of her root beer. Marcie passed out papers to each one of us.

"I've taken the liberty in preparing a study schedule for all of you. With mid-terms coming up I think it'll be in our best interest to devote as much time to study as possible." She sure meant as long as possible; every free moment of mine would have to been devoted to study according to Marcie.

The rest of the group wasn't exactly keen on this idea, Peppermint Patty being the most vocal: "Marcie what is this?! There's no time here for baseball!"

"Or T.V." I muttered.

"Well sir, the way you've been performing academically suggests that you transfer some of your athletic enthusiasm to your academia."

"That's what I got Chuck for!" I began to blush.

"That's just for History sir; you aren't exactly excelling in Biology, Mathematics, and certainly not in our English class."

"Well that's cause Ms. Othmar is a witch!" Linus snapped the pencil he was holding upon hearing that.

Schroeder spoke up, "Marcie, are you sure we really need to study so much, I mean it's not like our classes are _that_ difficult?"

Linus interjected, "Yeah, I mean I always get good grades and I never study."

"Way to be modest there blockhead", Lucy shook her head.

Marcie looked confused, "But aren't you guys worried?! Colleges are so competitive these days; we need to be sure we ace every test we get!"

Patty smirked, "Hey, I'd be happy with a D+ for once." Marcie began to look pretty awkward. She must have felt no one appreciated her efforts, which is why I decided to stink to her plan as strictly as possible. I know how it feels to feel unappreciated and Marcie doesn't deserve it.

Marcie has always been top in her class, and she sure has worked for it. She's constantly studying; she spends her entire lunch breaks at the library. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, though I wish she would relax a little bit. She can't though because her parents are really hard on her, they are always demanding her to do better. I really don't know what more they could possibly want from her; but they sure don't let up on her.

"Personally, I can use all the help I can get Marcie, thanks for making me this!"

Lucy then smirked, "Yeah, Charlie Brown's going to need every study guide in the world to get him through his mid-terms!" The other kids being to laugh at me and Marcie flashes me a 'thank you' smile.

* * *

Luck was on my side for once it seemed; the earliest midterm I had was for the class that nobody needed to study for: Mr. Swanson's Music class. We had heard from upperclassman that the entirety of the exam consisted of him playing recordings of him singing or playing instruments and them commenting on them. Of course grading was based on how much praise you could give his pieces. I was perfectly content with being a complete suck up for an A, it's not like I had any dignity anyway. Schroeder on the other hand was furious.

"I can't believe this idiot is going to make us listen to his music! I don't think I've heard anything as bad since when Snoopy used to play the accordion!"

We sat down next to each other and waited for Mr. Swanson to hand out the tests. It was odd hearing Schroeder talk so adamantly about how much he hated Mr. Swanson; for the past few weeks he hadn't said much to anybody. I guess Swanson's crimes against music are too much for anyone like Schroeder to bear.

"Just look at this as an easy A, don't try to think about the actual musical quality of his music", I offered.

"Are you insane Charlie Brown?! Have you lost all of your integrity?! Swanson's a complete hack!" Unfortunately, Schroeder had declared that a little bit too loudly and soon found Mr. Swanson standing above him, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Schroeder?" Any reasonable, sensible, person would have backed down and maybe offer a 'no, sorry sir' as a response. Schroeder however was never one to let anything go.

I tried whispering "Let it go" over and over but Schroeder wouldn't have it. He began to mouth off to the teacher at a rate approaching the speed of light. Not even Violet ever accused me of being as incompetent as Schroeder accused Mr. Swanson.

"You are a stain on the tapestry that is music! Its leeches like you that give legitimate musicians a bad name! No talent and all ego!" The sheer anger in Schroeder's face could only be matched by the look of shock in Mr. Swanson's who was beginning to shake.

When Schroeder finally finished his rant, the class remained silent for a good minute, until the shaken Mr. Swanson scribbled something down, gave it to Schroeder, and yelled, "P-p-principal NOW! I'll see to it that you're expelled!"

Schroeder rolled his eyes and walked out of the classroom mumbling, "A real musician would fight his own battles!"

It took Mr. Swanson a good five minutes to regain his composure and start the test; which if you are curious, everybody in the class got an 'A' on. He played a piece of his music and asked how we think it changed the music industry. Even I was able to come up with some sycophantic reason.

* * *

_Schroeder's insubordination in Mr. Swanson's class did not cause him to be permanently expelled, like Swanson had hoped, but he still did not go unpunished. He was given a week of out of school suspension and then a month's work of after school detention. Needless to say he also failed the midterm, something that certainly isn't good for someone with a prospective music career. Lucy had heard about the incident from Charlie Brown during math, and once she got out went straight to his house where she found him angrily playing his piano. _

_ "I can't believe you, you blockhead! How could you mouth off to a teacher like that? I'm not even that stubborn!" Schroeder didn't say anything but it was quite apparent he didn't appreciate Lucy's intrusion; he never did. "You got a zero on Mr. Swanson's midterm, the best you can get in that class is a 75 now, and that's if you get a 100 on the final!" Schroeder quickly glared at Lucy and then went back to playing the piano. "Jesus Christ Schroeder! What is with you?! You've been moody since we started school this year! I know you've been upset over not getting into Julliard but that doesn't give you the right to treat your friends like garbage! We've been trying to help you and you're just blowing us off!"_

_ Schroder abruptly stopped playing his piano and glared at Lucy who was scowling at him. "Why don't you mind your own business Lucy, I'm perfectly fine without your sage advice…"_

_ "Yeah well I don't think so; do you really think that a music school like Julliard is going to accept somebody who fails high school level music classes?! Charlie Brown has a better chance at getting in right now!" _

_ Schroeder's face instantly went red, a vein began to bulge on his forehead as he clenched his fists. Lucy was taken aback for a moment and took a step back; Schroeder looked murderous. Shaking with rage he yelled, "WHO THE HELL ASKED YOU?! I'm sick and tired of you trying to tell me what's best for me!! I couldn't give two craps what you think! What the hell do you even know about music?!"_

_ Lucy snorted, "I think quite a bit, seeing as we've been friends since we were 5!"_

_ "Ugh, has it been that long?!"_

_ "What's that mean!?"_

_ Schroeder began counting on his fingers, "9 years already! 9 years of having to put up with you! I should win an award!"_

_ Lucy stood in place; she wasn't sure what to think. For nine years Schroder had been rejecting her yet she was sure deep down he did like her. Maybe even if it wasn't in a romantic sense she was sure he at least liked having her around. She thought she was his muse, but now, she was shaken. She meekly asked, "Is that how you really view the past 9 years… a waste of your time? You really can't stand me that much."_

_ Schroder grinned, "I can't even put it into words! All I want is peace and quiet and day after day I've had to put up with you asking your stupid questions and interrupting my practice! I bet if it wasn't for your interference, I'd be at Julliard right now and not stuck in some nowhere town with a bunch of losers and weirdoes for friends!"Lucy didn't know what to do or even think. Should she cry, should she yell back, should she slug him? _

_ "Schroder I…"_

_ "Jesus Christ you stupid bitch, I don't care about what you have to say! I've seriously had enough! Go back to tormenting Charlie Brown; he's too passive to defend himself! But I'm done with you!"_

_ Without saying anything, Lucy left Schroeder's room. She heard him yell, "And if you ever come inside my house again I'm treating it as trespassing! I don't want to see you hear again!"_

_ Lucy felt absolutely horrible, all she could tell herself was that Schroeder was just really upset right now; he didn't really mean everything he was saying. He just needed to lash out at somebody: he's held his frustration in for so long. Even still did she really need to be the target of his rage? She didn't know. She felt like crying, something she hadn't done since she was a kid; she was due for Marcie's study group though in an hour and resolved to press on so she wasn't sure how she would._

_ Schroeder on the other hand felt quite content._

* * *

"Man, where are they? We're already a half hour behind schedule." Linus groaned, taking a handful of potato chips before looking back at his math textbook. Today was my turn to host our group study session, but after a half hour, Lucy and Schroeder still hadn't shown up. Marcie insisted on waiting for them, she didn't want us to have to start over when they did get here, but none of us had heard from them.

I started thumbing through my biology notes, trying to make sense of any of them when I heard Peppermint Patty explain, "What's with Snoopy Chuck!?" I looked up to see Snoopy dressed as one of his new characters, Doctor Joe Freeman. He was wearing a lab coat, thick glasses, and was sporting a fake goatee.

I rolled my eyes, knowing Snoopy was waiting for me to introduce his new character, "Oh that's just the world famous theoretical physicist: Joe Freeman."

Marcie looked skeptical, "What's he world famous for."

"Well he's an MIT graduate who is now working on a special government project that deals with teleportation through incredibly dense objects." Snoopy grabbed a piece of my paper and scribbled some crazy formula.

Linus and Marcie both looked and after a few moments of thinking it through both looked at each other in shock. Linus exclaimed, "Good lord, Charlie Brown! I think your dog may have actually figured out the secret behind teleportation!"

"That'll be the day!" Lucy was standing at the front door; Sally had just let her in. She was looking excessively crabby. "I don't know what garbage you're spewing now Linus, but do me a favor and cut it out!"

Linus grimaced at the sight of his sister, but Marcie looked excited, "Oh good! Lucy's here, now we just need to wait for Schroeder and we can begin."

Lucy looked very uncomfortable, "I don't think he's going to be coming tonight…"

Marcie shrugged and said, "Alright then I suppose we can begin then, I figure we can all benefit from brushing up on our math so…" I must have been the only one who noticed, but when Lucy said Schroeder wasn't coming she looked really upset. I knew that something must have happened between the two; Schroeder was very confrontational with Mr. Swanson, I wouldn't put it past him to act in the same way to Lucy.

Trying to sound as casual as possible, so I wouldn't invoke her ire, I asked, "Why can't Schroder come Lucy?"

Lucy stared down at her feet for a moment and then said, "Schroeder and I just got into a fight; we broke up..." she then glared at me, "and if anybody asks again I'll slug them!" I was about to offer my condolences but quickly shut my trap after she said that. Obviously she didn't want to talk about this. I couldn't believe Schroeder would just so quickly end things with Lucy though; he was being really rash and really impulsive.

Marcie broke the awkward silence by directing us back to studying, "Well… anyway '1's' test is probably going to focus a lot on trigonometry; so I thought we should go over the basics first by differentiating sine, cosine and…"

Peppermint Patty however interrupted her, "Wait a minute Lucille, Schroeder broke up with you? I wasn't really aware you guys were going out?"

Lucy looked at Patty in utter disbelief. For the first and probably only time in my life, I think I would have sided with Lucy in this; why bother even questioning it? Through gritted teeth, Lucy replied, "We've only been dating since we were like five Patty…"

Linus interjected, "But would you really consider it dating though? I mean yeah you guys have been _friends_ since you were five, but any indication of romance was clearly one sided…" He then shot a glance towards my sister who was staring at him dreamily from her beanbag in the den. "…Much like my _**purely platonic**_ relationship with Sally."

Sally gleefully responded with, "Isn't he just the cutest thing?!" It's a good thing Sally doesn't know what platonic means, she just though Linus was being cute, or else there would probably be some argument between them. Not that it mattered since Lucy wasn't exactly thrilled with what Linus just said.

"Who the hell are you to judge my relationship with Schroeder little brother!? I ought to slug you right now!" Linus gulped and backed down into his seat.

Peppermint Patty, confused, asked, "So wait, I'm still lost; did Lucille actually go out with Schroeder or not?"

The conversation began again, escalating into another argument between the Van Pelt siblings. Marcie, exasperated, looked over at me and muttered, "We're never going to get to studying!"

* * *

The following day I had to take my English midterm. We were assigned a Shakespearean play earlier in the year and we had to write an essay on it. I was given _Hamlet_ which I found to be a fitting choice for me; seeing as the main character's biggest flaw is his complete inability to take action. I think I did a decent job on the assignment, probably getting a B.

As the bell ending class rang Linus looked over at me and I nodded to him. We had planned to talk to Schroder today regarding Lucy. He quickly darted out of class and we followed him to his locker, he was rushing through his combination, having difficulty opening it. Linus casually walked up to Schroeder, "Heya Schrote!" Both Schroeder and I stared at Linus for a brief second, equally confused at his choice for a nickname.

Schroeder then mumbled, "Hey guys" and went back to working out his combination.

I tried to nonchalantly say, "So I heard you and Lucy got into a bit of an argument."

Schroeder grunted and rolled his eyes, "Of course this is what you are coming to talk to me about. Did she put you guys up to this? I bet she forced you guys."

Linus shook his head, "Nah it isn't like that, we just wanted to make sure everything was alright."

"Of course everything is alright, I don't have to deal with that sister of yours anymore!" Schroder kicked his unresponsive locker which caused it to open.

Linus laughed, "Man do I envy you!" Everyone was quiet for a few moments; Schroder exchanged his English books for his Biology book and closed his locker. He then looked at us impatiently.

"Look do you guys have anything to say or can I head to Wheeler's class?" That's a very weak excuse, everybody knows that it doesn't matter if you're late to his class.

Nervously I decide to bring up the reason we were at his locker, "Um Schroeder, Lucy has been really upset over you breaking up with her and…"

"Breaking up?! We were never going out!"

"Well either way she's really upset and I was thinking maybe it would be best if you guys tried to work things out… I mean I'm sure she didn't…mean…to…." I started to hesitate to finish my sentence; Schroeder's face had gone beat red and he was grinding his teeth. I could see his fists were clenched. I shot a look at Linus who motioned for me to drop it. Schroder took a step towards me and looked like he was going to yell something. He then stepped back and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and muttered something to himself before opening them with a smile.

"Look Charlie Brown, I'm done dealing with Lucy. She's just not worth it; I can't deal with such a crabby bitch hanging around me all the time, she's really distracting when I'm trying to practice. I've put up with her for years, I think I've taken my lumps." I looked over at Linus who looked incredibly angry; he bit his tongue however. I can't blame Linus though; even I thought Schroeder was going too far, even if it was Lucy.

I quietly replied, "Come on Schroeder, she's not _that_ bad."

"Are you kidding me?! How can you even say that Charlie Brown? You of all people should be agreeing with me, Lucy has consistently gone out of her way to make you miserable. You know what a horrible person she is. Give me a break here. It's like Peppermint Patty is always telling you, 'You need to stand up for yourself, Chuck'. Don't let Lucy keep pushing you around. I finally stood up to that horrible girl and I'm a lot happier for it." Linus looked as angry as Schroeder did before. I shot him a look to cool down which he did.

Linus let out a very fake laugh, "Come on Schroeder, do it for me then! Don't you realize how horrible she is to me now that you two aren't talking? I can't even walk into the living room without setting off a landmine of crabbiness!"

Schroeder shrugged, "Sorry man, but she's no longer my problem. I'll catch you guys later; I really got to get to class."

He walked off whistling some Beethoven song. I turned to Linus who was red in the face, "When the hell did we become friends with such a jerk Charlie Brown?"

"I don't know Linus, I really don't know."

* * *

After school I tried to devote as much time as possible studying for my biology midterm the next day. I had promised Peppermint Patty that I'd help her study for the history midterm later that night, which was a test I was fairly comfortable for, and therefore would to get in my studying for the bio test before hand. It was really difficult for me to concentrate on the test though; my mind was constantly wandering off to what happened between Lucy and Schroeder. We all know that Lucy can be near impossible to deal with, but the utter callousness displayed by Schroeder was disturbing. I suppose I should have realized that things would start to change when I got to high school. People always seem to gain and lose friends as the years go on; though I could safely say that I probably wouldn't be gaining friends anytime soon. I really didn't want to accept that anything would break up how things were and the way Schroeder could just throw away such a devoted friend like Lucy both confused and angered me.

"Oooooh big brother!" Interrupted from my musings on Lucy and Schroeder, and especially from actually studying, I looked up to see my little sister grinning at me with a piece of paper in your hand. "I need you to help me with my math homework!"

I rolled my eyes; Sally's idea of me helping her with her math homework involved me doing the homework while she sat and watched TV. At first she would actually sit with me and try to learn the stuff but she consistently pay less and less attention until she decided to cut out the middle man and just have me do it for her; the decision being made without any input from me of course. "Sally, I can't do your homework for you right now, I really have to study for my Biology midterm tomorrow!"

Sally however has always been a master whiner, "But big brother, this homework is due tomorrow morning!"

In a rare moment of determination (which I usually only get when having to deal with my sister) I said, "Well maybe A: you shouldn't have waited until the last minute when you were given a week and B: it's time you started doing your own homework. Seriously Sally, how are you ever going to learn anything if you don't do it yourself?"

Sally groaned, "In one hundred years who will ever care if I learned Pre-Algebra!?"

"No is no Sally!" she marched off grumbling as I turned back to my Biology book. I swear that girl is never going to do anything for herself. I went back to trying to differentiate different species of Protist and was uninterrupted…for about two minutes. Suddenly the front door slammed open and I saw Snoopy carrying a wooden box and wearing one of those visors that accountants or people at Las Vegas wear. He was followed by Woodstock and a bunch of his bird friends, all of them busily chirping to one another. Snoopy sat down across from me and opened the briefcase; revealing a set of playing cards and a bunch of betting chips. The other birds sat around on the edges of table and excitedly chirped as Snoopy began dealing chips and cards to each bird.

"Snoopy do you have to do this now; I really need to study for my Biology midterm!" A bunch of the birds began angrily chirping and Snoopy started yelling at me in his weird dog way. "No Snoopy! I will NOT leave! I was here first, I need to study! You're poker game could wait."

One moment later I found myself being thrown out on the front stoop! I opened the door and yelled, "At least give me my book!" I turned around as I waited for someone to deliver it, looking at the sunset, only to suddenly feel a very heavy book slam against the back of my head! I moaned in pain and mumbled, "Rats, kicked out by my own dog."

I heard the sound of a little girl clearing her throat and turned around to see my sister holding a pencil and her math homework, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and looked at the first problem, "Okay Sally, but we're doing this together!"

She nodded, "Of course big brother!"

I looked down and read the problem, "9 lbs. of mixed nuts containing 55% peanuts were mixed with 6 lbs. of another kind of mixed nuts that contain 40% peanuts. What percent of the new mixture are peanuts?" I looked up and saw Sally back inside with the TV already on and her securely in her beanbag. I rolled my eyes and began working out the problem.

* * *

By the time I finished Sally's homework I was already late for my tutoring appointment with Peppermint Patty. I rushed out of the house and ran over to Peppermint Patty's. It was already dark and while I was on the way to her house I realized how much things have changed. Back when we were little kids there would be no problem just walking to her place; but over the past couple of years her part of town had become very run down and crime rates had increased. Patty had told me that her dad had been mugged not too far from her house about a year ago. Rumor had it that a lot of the crime in the area was a result of an organized crime boss named Agate gaining power. I don't know how much of that is true, but I will say that his son, Joe, is a student in my grade and seems to be significantly more affluent then he was in the past.

Despite being a nervous wreck walking to her house, I arrived in one piece and was welcome with a smile from Peppermint Patty when I knocked on the door, "I was wondering when you were going to show, Chuck!"

"Sorry Patty, I got caught up helping Sally with something…against my free will of course."

"No problemo Chuck. You hungry, I got some soup on?" Normally I'd decline but I realized I hadn't eaten anything thanks to be kicked out of the kitchen by Snoopy.

"I think I'd like that, Patty." She smiled and poured me a cup of chicken noodle as I unpacked my backpack and took out my history book and some notes. "How've you been doing in your other classes, Patty?"

"Eh, same old Chuck. I know I got a D minus in both English and Math. I don't feel too good about my art midterm either." Our school had half the students taking art while the other half was taking music. I'd be taking art in my sophomore year.

I took out my notes on New Deal era legislation since that was what was mostly likely going to be on the midterm. "Okay so do you know what kinds of farm and rural programs-"

Peppermint Patty quickly interrupted me however, "Chuck, do you think Lucille and Schroeder are meant for each other?"

I blinked a few times and then asked, "What are you talking about?!"

"I don't know; I've been doing some thinking. Lucille always seemed to throw herself to him and he usually just ignored her. Do you think she should have persisted even if he really wasn't interested?"

"I really don't know what this has to do with the New Deal…"

"Jesus Chuck you don't have a romantic bone in your body do you?! This is something that's really been bugging me!" She looked really upset.

"Why would it?"

"Something about it just unsettles me. Lucy devotes herself entirely to him and he couldn't care less."

I sighed, "I know what you mean. I think Schroeder being a really selfish jerk about all of this. I hope eventually he'll come around though and treat Lucy a little better."

"But do you think she should still like him Chuck, he treats her like total garbage and yet she's so fond of him. I just don't get it Chuck."

I shrugged, "I guess that's how love can be Patty. Sometimes nobody can understand it." A smirk grew on her face causing me to gulp. I bet I just opened a can of worms.

"Well if you're such an expert on love Chuck, why don't you tell me what it's all about then?" I groaned; she used to pull this kind of thing back when we were kids: asking romantic questions just to trip me up.

"Oh good grief, you know that I'm clueless when it comes to love. I admit I wish I weren't but it is what it is. What I can tell you about though is New Deal era legislation!"

"Ah sheesh Chuck, you're no fun!" I was able to tutor her for about fifteen minutes; though it was very difficult to keep her attention. I constantly caught her gazing out the window, flipping through a magazine, and at one point: sleeping.

Eventually I heard the front door creak open which caused Peppermint Patty to go white in the face. "What's he doing home now!?" I heard footsteps head to a different room in the house and then I heard another door slam. I thought I could smell alcohol as well.

"Patty, doesn't your dad work late?"

She looked halfway between crying and rage, "Yeah, he's supposed to be. I guess he came home early…again…" I thought I could hear the sound of a grown man sobbing in the other room.

"Patty…is something wrong?"

She was silent for a few moments; she looked on the verge of tears. I moved over to her, "Patty, what's going on?"

"I…I think you should leave Chuck…like now…"

"Patty, are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah…I think it's just best if you aren't here right now…thank you for tutoring me, I'll see you in school tomorrow." I quietly nodded and gathered my things.

"Look if you need anything just call…I'm sorry…have a good night."

"Thanks Chuck." She closed the door behind me and I began to walk home. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Peppermint Patty's mother died before she could ever remember her. All she ever knew was her dad. Her dad remained strong when Patty was young, but as the years went on he began to break down little by little. I know things have been very tough for them both emotionally and financially: Mr. Reichardt has gone through a couple of jobs in the past few years. Peppermint Patty hated ever talking about her problems at home but I know it really bothered her. I just wish there was something I could do for her.

* * *

After the total downer that was yesterday, I don't know how I had it in me to go to school and take my biology exam. I had absolutely no confidence in my ability to pass this test. Once I got to my Biology class I started visibly shaking in fear of taking this exam.

"Haha! Look at Charlie Brown over here! He's having a seizure!" Thibault made my nervousness quickly apparent to the class.

Marcie whispered to me, "Don't worry Charles, it's not going to be so bad. I bet you know a lot more than you give yourself credit for." I nodded and smiled. I have been doing a lot of studying for this test. I knew a lot about this subject: anatomy, taxonomy, cell parts: none of it was really too bad. I could easily do this.

In what seemed like the first time he ever addressed our class Mr. Wheeler handed out our tests and warned us not to cheat. With a newfound wind of confidence, I looked down at the first question which asked me to write the chemical formula for arsenic tetrachloride fluoride. We never discussed chemical formulas once in class. I looked down and saw that every question asked about a chemical formula: cobalt boride, phosphoric acid, indium(III) phosphide, rubidium acetate. I promptly fainted.


	7. The Worst Day

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 5: Worst Day of the Year

Thankfully I passed all my mid-terms. I actually did fairly well; surprisingly so in Biology. I still could have probably done better in Math, but I suppose I can live with a C. Peppermint Patty passed everything too, although she barely scrapped by in history with her patented D minus. Even still I'm glad she was able to get that much; things were looking grim for a bit there.

December and January were fairly uneventful months. I of course hadn't been invited to Violet's Christmas party, which apparently was mostly a repeat of Halloween's (I'm surprised myself she allowed Pig-Pen back). Linus attended that party too, and apparently that was when he and Frieda officially became 'an item'.

As for the situation with Schroeder: things hadn't gotten any better. We made sure to keep our distance from him; he certainly didn't seem to want anything to do with us. Occasionally Linus or I would be forced to work with him on something in class; which was a very awkward and formal affair. Lucy refused to talk about him at all either; though it was very apparent that it was taking her toll on her. It's kind of odd, she was still crabby, but in a much different way. She didn't go out of her way to make fun of people or annoy them anymore, but she was really, really defensive over things. Despite his so called 'emancipation' from Lucy, he looked worse and worse by the day. He always looked like he hadn't slept for days and his complexion was getting paler and paler. Pig-Pen would joke that he had become a vampire or zombie or something, but the truth was that something seriously scary had to be going on.

…

"Three cheers for Peppermint Patty!" We all had a rowdy cheer for Patty, she certainly earned it. She had been a part of the baseball team since the year started and devoted a lot of her spare time to practice. It certainly paid off; she was to take over the position of pitcher once the current one graduated at the end of the year.

"Aw shucks guys, you didn't need to throw me a party or anything."

Pig-Pen, who had stuffed himself full of cake belched, "Hey, there's nothing that's too small for a party!" Pig-Pen got the small part right. It was a very modest party we threw for her. We decided to have it in Marcie's basement, which is fairly spacious. We got Patty some cake and bought some sodas. Attending were of course Peppermint Patty, myself, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Marcie, Pig-Pen, Franklin and Roy (who also had made the team), as well as another team member named Jose Peterson. I him once ages ago as a kid, I knew he was good at baseball, I never really spoke to him. He seemed pretty happy for Peppermint Patty so I guess he's okay in my book.

Roy grumbled, "Man, it's starting to get warmer, practice is going to go into overdrive soon."

Franklin rolled his eyes, "No one forced you on the team Roy…"

Peppermint Patty threw her arm around an annoyed Roy and laughed, "Don't you go quitting before the season starts Roy. If we lose any players then I think that toad Thibault is on deck to be next on the team and none of us want that happening." Most of the party gave a good laugh at that. Roy, blushing crept away to talk to Franklin while I watched Linus and Pig-Pen get into a debate on who would win: Captain Kirk or Han Solo for a bit. Eventually I made my way for some solo time with the lady of the evening: Peppermint Patty.

"Congratulations again Patty!" I smile. She suddenly gives me a big hug, surprising me.

"I couldn't have done it without you, Chuck!"

"What?"

"If I hadn't passed all my tests, I would have been kicked off the team! I really owe you one Chuck."

I laughed nervously, "Aw, well, anytime…"

"We've known each other for like 7 years now Chuck, you don't have to act all nervous around me anymore." She giggled.

"Oh…um…sorry..uh" My expertise with girls clearly is legendary.

"Oh good grief. Anyway Chuck, Valentine's Day is just 'round the corner. Got any special plans?"

"Oh heck no, I hate that stupid holiday." Valentine's Day is definitely the worst day of the year. Of all the days in the year, it truly emphasizes the fact that nobody likes me. I've gone years without getting a stinking Valentine (excluding that pathetic hand me down). I'm not sending any out, or getting my hopes up that I'm going to get any. "I'm just going to go to school and then come home."

She rolled her eyes at me, "Whatever you say, Chuck." I hung out with her for a little bit, before that Jose Peterson guy cut in. I watched as the two of them talked, they certainly seemed to have hit it off. I guess it makes sense; they are both baseball pros.

I decided to talk to Roy, but quickly saw that he was fuming, "I can't believe that jerk is talking to Peppermint Patty."

"What's wrong with Peterson?"

"What isn't wrong with Peterson? He's a conceited asshole. I play on the team with him; he always thinks who the hell he is. What's Patty doing talking to a guy like him?"

I shrug, "Maybe they're talking strategy?" Jose Peterson said something to her, which caused her to start giggling a bit; honestly I could see why Roy was a little peeved. It certainly was odd seeing Peppermint Patty getting all goo-goo eyed over someone and it's no surprise that Roy sort of has a thing for her. But on the other hand, Roy's kind a jerk to her, so I don't feel too bad about him getting jealous. If Patty likes Jose Peterson, that's her decision.

"Hmph, baseball strategy, yeah right. I'm going to keep an eye on that creep. He better not lay a finger on her…"

"You do that Roy." I decided to leave him to himself. It's Peppermint Patty's big day, the last thing she needs is Roy making a scene.

…

Valentine's Day: such a sickening, gut wrenching, depression building day. The bus ride to school that day was miserable, seeing all the lovey-dovey couples kissing and hugging while all of us single losers had to watch. Even my best friend Linus was cuddling with Frieda the whole bus ride there. Most of my teachers at least didn't waste any time talking about the dreadful day; the exception being English class, where Ms. Othmar certainly was dressed for the day. She must have had a date with her boyfriend or something because she was wearing…well I suppose I need not get into that here.

I talked to Linus a bit in between classes; he seemed to hate the holiday as much as I did, albeit for much different reasons. "This is insane Charlie Brown! I can't stand this stupid day; Frieda won't give me a moment's peace! I have to buy her all of this stuff and take her everywhere; I'm going to go broke!"

I laughed, "Trouble in paradise, eh?"

"Paradise! You're the lucky one Charlie Brown, stay single as long as you can man! This is crazy: I have to hang out with her all the time, she gets jealous whenever I want to do anything else, and she-doesn't-stop-talking-ever!"

"Aren't you being a bit overdramatic here? Frieda's a nice girl; yeah a bit wordy but…"

"You have no idea how wordy! Cherish your freedom Charlie Brown! Once liberty is lost it cannot be reclaimed!" Linus could have been in theater.

"So are you going to break up with her?"

"Well yeah eventually; I'm not going to be a jerk and do it on Valentine's Day or something. But I do long for my days as a swinging single, with all the girls clamoring to be with me."

"Right…"

…

Lunch with Franklin, Pig-Pen, and Roy was as typical as ever. Roy seemed to be as glum as I was over the day and Franklin and Pig-Pen were bickering as per usual. "Oh show me your stinking Valentine Frankin! If I don't see it I'm not going to believe it!"

"I couldn't care less if you don't believe it. I don't want you ruining my chances with this girl! I'm not letting you know who she is Pig-Pen."

Pig-Pen smirked, "This the same chick who stood you up back during homecoming?"

Franklin went red in the face, "She didn't stand me up; she was just really busy; that's all!" Pig-Pen continued laughing while Franklin rolled his eyes.

"So what about you Charlie Brown? Got any Valentines, huh?"

"What do you think, Pig-Pen?" I reply curtly.

"Eh-heh, thought so. Don't take it too hard though Charlie Brown, it's not like either Roy or I got any." Roy grunted. "You'll have to excuse Grouchy over there; he's just afraid that Jose Peterson is going to ask out you-know-who."

Roy snaps, "You'd be pissed too if someone was going to make a move on your girl!"

Franklin then pointed out, "You can't really call someone your girl if you never talk to them. Plus since when did you even like her? As far back as I can remember you were celebrating when you first were able to 'dump her on Charlie Brown.'"

Dump her on me? I guess thinking back to when we were kids it made sense. When I first met Roy, he was quick to introduce Peppermint Patty; then after that I never saw him. She was especially assertive back then; so I guess she got on Roy's nerves. Roy muttered, "That was then, we've grown up now. Or at least all of us save you, Pig-Pen."

"And proud of it!" Pig-Pen smiles. "So you don't have some crazy scheme to give the Little Red Haired Girl a Valentine? I'm a bit disappointed; that's always one of the highlights of the year."

I groan, "Well after last year's fiasco, I decided just to give it up." Last year I had written her a really nice Valentine but someone; let's just call her Ms. L, gave me the wrong locker to drop it off in; which lead me to dropping it off in the locker of Brutus; one of the biggest defensive linemen on our middle school team. Brutus also happened to have been the Little Red Haired Girl's boyfriend at the time: it really wasn't a good day for me.

"Didn't want to go up against old Bluto again huh?" Franklin snorts, "Can't say I blame you. It's a good thing Shermy was able to call off the fight."

"Yeah, forty minutes after it started." I mumbled. Truth be told, fear of Brutus isn't exactly why I'm not bothering with the Valentine. Every year I try, and something always messes it up. Even if I was to give her one; I'm sure she'd just laugh in my face anyway. I'd rather just spare myself the disappointment for once.

"Hello boys." I look up to see Violet and Patty staring at us. Violet smiles, "Of course I didn't forget you dregs this Valentine's Day. Lookie here: one for Franklin, one for Roy, and one for Pig-Pen…even if I'm still furious at you for your reprehensible behavior this Halloween!"

Roy rolled his eyes and didn't bother looking at his Valentine, Franklin looked annoyed while Pig-Pen smiled, "I knew you wanted me baby!"

Franklin grumbled, "They're just doing this to be cruel to Charlie Brown you idiot."

"It's fine. I'm used to not getting Valentines."

Violet giggles, "Well would you look at that; Charlie Brown actually can learn something! I'm surprised to see you didn't go after Heather this year. I suppose you are planning on following her home after school then?"  
"Oh will you lay off him Violet!" Franklin yells. She shrugs and walks away, with Patty in tow. "I'm getting so sick of her treating everyone like crap! I wish more people would stand up to her." He looked at me and Pig-Pen in disgust. I can't blame him; I've let her pick on me for ages and still haven't done anything. Pig-Pen of course was so happy with his Valentine that Franklin's statement fell on deaf ears.

…

Once another awkward 8th period math class ended (this time with 5's father fainting from being overwhelmed by a problem he wrote on the board) I walked with Lucy to our lockers. She was acting odd; very nervous, like she was anxious about something: almost like how I act when I attempt to get up the nerve to talk to the Little Red Haired Girl. I had expected her to be crankier than she had ever been; which would have certainly been justified given the recent circumstances for her and this infernal 'holiday'.

As I approached our lockers she quickly blurted out, "I gotta do something quickly, I'll be right back Charlie Brown!" and then darted off before I could say anything. I turned my attention to trying to figure out what books I needed and what I don't. I tend to have a problem with bringing the wrong textbooks home and thus not being able to do my homework until first period the next day. I try to avoid that: I crack under pressure.

"YOU STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE HINT, HAVE YOU?" Everyone else and the hall way as well as I whip our heads around to the source of the commotion: an enraged Schroeder screaming at a shocked Lucy who is holding a pink Valentine in her hands. "I thought I got rid of you in November! I thought I made it perfectly clear that I DID NOT WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Schroeder then makes a move towards Lucy and instinctually find myself running over to intercept. Lucy in fear backs away from Schroder's fist, dropping the card in progress. I don't really think through what I'm going to do; put myself in between them, push Lucy out of the way, try and constrain Schroder? It doesn't matter because before I can get there Schroeder is decked by none other than an incredibly angry Linus van Pelt! "What the hell…"

"Don't you ever go near my sister again, you creep!" Linus glared at Schroeder as he picked himself up off the floor. "I've kept quiet about you long enough; you're nothing but a scumbag!"

Schroeder flashed a really creepy smile, "Oh, I'm the scumbag am I Linus? Lucy sadistically torments you and your best friend for years. She bullies you, belittles you, badmouths you, and yet I'm the bad guy?"

As Linus and Schroeder stare each other down, I walk towards Lucy, whose eyes are swelled with tears and put my arm on her shoulder. "Don't listen to him Lucy." I say to her. She sniffles a little bit and gives me a forced smile.

"Anyone who would consider hitting a girl is a bad guy in my book Schroeder! I don't care what she's done to you; it's unacceptable!"

"Who the hell are you to judge me! I've dealt your sister long enough! I've had to put up with her sh-"

Linus cut him off, "Put up with her what; her patience with you and your stupid piano? Her constant attention and affection that you can never bother to return, not even a little! You haven't been putting up with her these nine years Schroeder! She's been putting up with you! She's gone to every concert of yours, listened to every piece you've played, hell she celebrated every one of Beethoven's stupid birthdays with you for Christ's sake!"

"Plus the year that you forgot his birthday!"; Pig-Pen (who was attracted to the scene at around the same time I was) "helpfully" added. After a quick glare from Linus and Schroeder the two of them went right back to trying to kill each other with their thoughts.

Linus shouted, "My sister is an idiot Schroeder. An idiot for being devoted to a scumbag like you! I can't stop her from loving her though; but I will stop you from ever laying one of your dirty fingers on her!"

Schroeder's gaze was absolutely poisonous. There was intense hatred, yet he was flashing an eerie smile, "It's amazing how you are condemning me for all of this; but don't you do the same thing to Charlie Brown's little whore of a sister!" I clench my fists, is this asshole trying to piss off the entire school? "You ignore her all the time; stop acting like a freaking saint!"

That was enough to bring pause to Linus's righteous fury. I could see the pang of guilt on his face. It was true; Linus certainly did like avoiding Sally; in fact he made of point of not being anywhere near her since he started dating Frieda (which was probably a wise move). I can't say I really ever thought about how Linus treated my sister; I'd always be quick to take his side since Sally can get really annoying. Plus it's not like I really want my best friend going out with my baby sister. But was Linus just as cold to Sally as Schroeder was to Lucy?

No, there's no way. Linus always liked to crack jokes and denounce any affection he has for her; but I know he at least has some respect for her. He genuinely doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of her and back in middle school I've seen him stand up to bullies for her far more than I ever did.

Schroeder sneered, "You're no better than I am and you know it!"

I step up, "You're wrong Schroeder; Linus would never attack a girl."

Schroeder's face went red, "Who asked you Charlie Brown! No one cares what you have to say!" He charged at me, which I recoiled from. "Hah, you're such a wimp!" When he charged at me I got a good look at his face; his eyes were completely bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept in ages. Something was seriously wrong.

"…Schroeder; what's wrong with you? We've been trying to help you all this time. You look really sick. You haven't been acting like yourself at all! What's going on?"

Schroder gritted his teeth, "Oh, you think something is wrong with me Charlie Brown? You of all people think that there's something wrong with _me?_ You're all a bunch of babysitting bastards! There's nothing wrong with me! You're all the crazy ones; I'm perfectly normal! You don't like who I am, well tough luck boys cause this is the real me! I don't need to hold back who I am just so I don't hurt Lucy's feelings! Screw you all!" Schroeder went from being angry to absolutely insane. I didn't know how it could be; but any trace of the Schroeder we knew was consumed by whoever this was in his place. Linus and I both stared him down; though we hadn't spoken to each other we both knew we would defend Lucy from him should he do anything.

"Hey just what in the heck is going on here!" Luckily, hall monitor Molly Volley had finally gotten around to our neck of the school to break up the situation. "No fighting on school grounds! You all should be well aware of this! Now all of you break it up before I have to bust some heads myself." Some kids like 'Bad Call' Benny moaned in disappointment; they had been spoiling for a good fight. "I said break it up, all of you; or the lot of you'll be spending the next month in detention!" While some were disappointed, I would have to think that most of the people there shared my intense feeling of relief. Schroeder was absolutely dangerous. I don't know if Linus and myself could stand up to him in this state. He was never a physically imposing guy or anything, but he definitely had an adrenaline rush; and while I was fairly pumped myself when I saw my friend in danger I don't know if it could stand anywhere near the rage he had. Linus put his arm around his sister's shoulder and lead her away from the scene. She was still sobbing as he gave Schroeder the dirtiest look I've ever seen.

Schroeder himself was still fuming and looked me straight in the eye, "If you ever speak to me like that again Charlie Brown I'll kill you, you worthless pussy!" before walking off. I sighed watching the crowd disperse. Most of the other kids were talking amongst themselves in whispers. Molly Volley was writing up a detention slip for Benny due to his 'insubordination' or in other words: complaining about how she broke up the fight of the century.

The bell rang, reminding me that I still had a bus to catch! I rushed towards my locker, holding in the sick feeling I had in my stomach because of what just happened and opened it, rushing through all my stuff to sort out what I needed and what I didn't.

It wasn't until I was about to close my locker that I noticed something sticking out of it. It was an envelope adorned with little heart stickers that was addressed to "Charlie Brown". My eyes lit up with excitement, I tore the envelope to reveal a homemade card peppered with some more stickers which read:

_Dear Charlie Brown,_

_ Just wanted you to know that somebody's thinking about you this Valentine's Day._

_ Love,_

_ A Special Friend_

I won't lie; my heart skipped a few beats when I read that. Someone was thinking of me on Valentine's Day? Someone thought of me as their special friend? I wondered who it could be: maybe it was from the Little Red Haired Girl? Oh who am I kidding? It was probably just some pity card from Violet and her friends in order to ease their guilt. Or even more likely: somebody trying to set me up only to crush my hopes. Even still though, if that were the case I'd think that they would be a little less subtle about it. Maybe this was an actual genuine Valentine?

….

_Around the corner, Peppermint Patty watched Charlie Brown's excited reaction to the parchment found in his locker with content. She could tell that he was happy; he's so rarely happy that it really shows the few times he is. He deserved it, she saw how he rushed to Lucy's defense before: without any regard for his own safety, he was prepared to take on Schroeder. She was of course glad Linus did the same, but she very much expected that out of him. She was glad to see that deep down; Charlie Brown did have a spine._

_Even still, Patty did feel a little disappointed. She knew that Charlie Brown wasn't giving out any Valentine's this year, for good reason given how much he's been hurt in the past. Still, she too was a little bitter about the prospect of being alone on Valentine's Day._

"_Hello Peppermint Patty, perhaps you'd care to join me after school?" She looked around and saw her fellow teammate: Jose Peterson grinning at her, a bouquet of three roses in his hand._

"_Aw, geeze Jose, these are for me?"_

_He nodded, "But of course. We can't have a girl like you single on Valentine's Day, can we?" Peppermint Patty hesitated for a moment, looking back at Chuck. She sighed; he'd probably never know the difference anyway. Besides, Peterson was considered one of the best catches in the school._

"_Alright kid, I guess you can buy me some food: I'm pretty hungry." She laughed. Peterson grinned his toothy smile and led her to the school's entrance. Luckily for him, when the passed the school store manned by 5 and Peggy Jean; Peppermint Patty's attention was focused on one last guilty glance towards Charlie Brown, instead of the sign advertising "The Cheapest Roses Money Can Buy!"_

…_._

Good grief, I missed my bus. I got involved in that Schroeder incident, but pausing over that Valentine was what really held me up. Maybe that's what whoever sent me the card had intended…. That's too paranoid even for me!

I resign myself to walking home, usually about a forty five minute to an hour walk. The main issue I have with doing so is that it takes you through not exactly a great part of town. Not that there's any murders or gang wars or whatnot, but there still are a lot of unsavory characters and certainly a lot of drug dealing. Alas, it's not like I had much of a choice.

…...

I walked down the street at quite a fast pace; there were a couple of vagrants sitting around and I didn't want to give them a reason to harass me. I only needed to cut through two more blocks; then things would get a little better. Unfortunately as I passed the abandoned florist shop, something caught my eye.

Somebody had darted behind a back alleyway. Of course given this street that wouldn't be much of a big deal, but I could have sworn it was Schroeder. Despite going completely against my better judgment, I had to see what he was up to. It was insane on my part! Any alleyway in this area is bad enough and Schroeder in his current state may be just as dangerous!

I peek my head around the corner of the alleyway to confirm my suspicions: it was indeed Schroeder who had business back there. He approached a group of guys: some around our age but many older; regardless they all looked incredibly dangerous. They must have been a gang; they all had matching green armbands. Most of the guys I had never seen before. All of them, in fact, except for the guy who was in charge.

I never liked the guy, but I wouldn't have thought Joe Agate would be involved in a gang; let alone lead one. I suppose it makes sense though, his father always had been involved in some really shady stuff which Joe always seemed proud of. When we were kids Joe gave me trouble a few times, but I hasn't bothered any of us in years. I suppose this is what he's been up to.

Joe grinned as Schroeder approached, "Aha! My best customer! Glad you agreed to meet us here again."

Schroeder did not seem nearly as happy as Joe though, he replied with a curt, "You got it or not Joe?"

"Do I have it? Of course I have it!" His eyes narrowed, "Of course this is all contingent on if you got the cash."

Schroeder reached into his pocket and shoved a wad of bills into Joe's face, "Here! Give it to me; now!" Schroeder sounded even worse than he did back in school about a half hour before. He was facing away from me and I certainly didn't want to risk getting closer so I couldn't see his face, but he was very tense and seemed to be trembling.

Joe chucked, "Chill out buddy, I'll hook you up, don't you worry. You know me man, I may be cheap but you'll still always get the highest quality stuff." One of Joe's cohorts handed Schroeder a small bag full of something white. I couldn't exactly make it out, but I don't think I really needed to. My stomach began to feel incredibly uneasy: I knew what was going on. I didn't want to believe it but I knew what was happening.

Schroeder looked at the bag and then growled, "There's less than last week! What the hell, you're trying to rip me off! I'm not going to be able to get by on this much!"

Agate sneered, "This stuff is premium my friend: really hard to come by. I need to raise the price every so often." Schroeder clenched his fists, something Joe took immediate notice of, "You really want to fight? My boys have no qualms about killing a pathetic junkie like you. Remember last time? We put you in the hospital for a week. Don't try anything that you're going to regret. We wouldn't want Lucy van Pelt to lose her man, would we?"

Schroeder shouted, "I told you before I have nothing to do with her! Today that crazy bitch tried to give me a Valentine, but I showed her! I swear!"

Joe smugly grinned, "I'm sure you did Schroeder, I'm sure you did. I'm glad you finally started listening to me man. I've been telling you for ages that Lucy and her friends are no good for you. You don't need them."

Schroeder faltered for a moment, "Y-yeah. I don't need them." I felt a surge of hatred rising up in me: not towards Schroeder but to Joe. I wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but it was entirely clear that Joe Agate was using Schroeder and his addiction to turn him against us. Why? I don't know, but scumbags like Joe Agates often don't have reasons that I can comprehend. Even still, what could I do? It isn't like I could take ANY of the guys in that alley by myself, not to mention all at once. Plus they are dangerous, probably armed. In frustration I kick the brick wall, an incredibly blockheadish movie on my part.

"Owch!" I try and hush myself but it catches the ear of one of the thugs. Without thinking I darted away; hoping that they don't bother investigating. As I ran down the lane I saw other passerby's staring at me like I was some weirdo, so I figured I was safe. Still; it wouldn't be wise to head back.

…

I brought up what I saw up to Linus that night. I asked him if I should tell Lucy. He didn't think it was the best idea; she still clearly had feelings for Schroeder and was incredibly upset over how he treated her earlier. Telling her he's a drug addict that also has ties to a gang would make things worse for her; she'd begin to worry. On the other hand, telling Lucy about it would maybe make her think that Schroeder doesn't really hate her: it's just the drugs talking. But doing that may cause her to try and reach out to him: and as noble as that may be, it could be very dangerous. It's a terrible choice to have to make, but Linus and I both thought that right now, keeping Lucy away from Schroeder is the best course of action. As to bringing our friend Schroeder back to normal? Neither of us have a clue on how to accomplish that. It seems hopeless.

To be continued…


	8. Crescendo

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 6: Crescendo

_ Things had been escalating for months. There's no denying that. It was only a matter of time before the two of them would finally meet, on the field of battle. After all his threats, could you blame our hero for wanting to end this? _

_The two figures stared each other down. A huge crowd had formed to witness their showdown. It truly had all come down to this. Our hero stepping out the shadows to reveal himself to his enemy gave him one final chance to step down and spare his honor, __**"El Pollo Carmesí, ha mancillado mi honor por última vez. ¡Usted ahora será derrotado!"**_

_ Our villain, El Pollo Carmesí, was not prepared to back down so easily, he would defeat El Grapadura this time, even if it killed him. __**"Su muerte será lenta y dolorosa."**_

_ "__**¡Ja Ja! ¡Un desafío es? ¡Bueno!" **__El Grapadura lunges for his opponent, who despite his dastardly nature is no match for the power of good. __**"¡Ja Ja! ¡Usted se debe haber quedado en casa!" **__El Grapadura then grabs his nemesis and puts him in a headlock. The crowd cheers as El Pollo Carmesí goes down without putting up a fight. _

_ A referee appears and declares El Grapadura as the winner who thanks his cheering fans with a hearty "__**¡Bueno!"**_

"Aw man, five minutes in and already this is freaking awesome!" Peppermint Patty cries, "Who wants to put money down that El Grapadura goes all the way?"

Pig-Pen, with an air of elitism that is not normally characteristic of him boasts, "El Pollo _Carmesí _is a total pushover Peppermint Patty, he's meant to lose. Once the real heels are brought out he's toast!"

For those of you still confused, my friends are referring to a once in a lifetime event where our favorite Luca Libre wrestler, **¡El Grapadura!, **takes on all of his most famous challengers during an all day televised, commercial free, live event. Even for someone like me, who really didn't know what was going on, it was still pretty darn cool. As I'm sure it is very evident, Peppermint Patty is apparently a huge fan of luchadors; she was the one who suggested we all watch the marathon together. We decided to watch it in Pig-Pen's room, which unsurprisingly, is a total dump.

There was a rather large turnout Pig-Pen of course was sitting at his desk, playing some game whilst watching the fight; Franklin was looking over his shoulder, not too interested in the match. Myself and Linus were sitting on the floor, a rather disturbing prospect…I think Pig-Pen's floor may be considered a living organism at this point. We were sitting on the floor of course to allow Marcie, Peppermint Patty, and (by extension) Jose Peterson to sit on the bed. However I don't know how chivalrous that really was; Pig-Pen's bed may be scarier than his floor. Roy was standing alone in some corner paying little attention to the match; instead his hateful gaze was trained on Jose Peterson the entire time.

Another match had begun, and El Grapadura had already performed a pile driver on his opponent, El Contable Colérico. Most of us in the room began to cheer, save Linus who cursed, "Damn it, I had money on him!" and Jose Peterson who was rolling his eyes.

"What do you guys see in this? It's so stupid" Jose groaned.

Roy instigated, "What do you have against El Grapadura, eh Peterson?"

Jose sighed, "What's it to you dork?"

Peppermint Patty, a little annoyed, chastised her boyfriend, "Hey Jose, that's not very nice!"

"Sorry babe, but this is just so stupid. Come on can't we go?"

Patty glared at him, "I happen to be enjoying myself Jose." Jose made a very audible sigh which prompted Peppermint Patty to growl, "Alright, sheesh! We'll go!" Peppermint Patty then quickly said goodbye to all of us and left with Jose Peterson in tow.

Roy was quick to start in, "Okay so, screw Jose Peterson."

Linus, still rather upset over losing his money snidely remarked, "You're just upset that it isn't you bossing her around."

"I never boss her around!"

Pig-Pen smiled, riling Roy's hair, "Correction Roy: you always try to boss her around: she just doesn't take you seriously at all!"

Roy grumbled, "You're all assholes and I hate you."

As much as I knew Linus and Pig-Pen were right: Roy would be just a big of a jerk if not bigger to Peppermint Patty as Jose Peterson, I still didn't like how Jose was treating her. "I'm inclined to agree with Roy on this one; Jose seemed a bit out of line. I mean come on; we all know how much she loves El Grapadura."

Pig-Pen laughed, "Clearly Jose Peterson is jealous of the Mexican piece of muscle that is ¡El Grapadura!"

Franklin sighed, "Perhaps we aught to drop this conversation before Pig-Pen manages to offend everybody on the planet again."

Linus however interrupted, "Oh what the hell is this crap?" I looked to the television and saw that the match had been interrupted by a breaking news reel.

Our local reporter Robert Chain was already speaking when I started watched, "…for interrupting the match, however we have breaking news regarding the story we ran last night on the rise of youth gangs in our area. Last night violence broke out at the Oxnard Montalvo Memorial Mall when scores of young teens, identifying themselves as the Kat's Eye Killaz engaged in violent activity including rioting and looting. This gang, disturbingly is mostly made of young males aged 13-21 coming from surrounding suburban families. We do not yet know what is driving so many young people into joining these atrocious…"

Pig-Pen yawned, "This is what's interrupting our match? Everybody in town knows about this, who cares?"

Franklin nodded, "The mayor probably has some sort of press release he wants to air in response to this. He just is using this to validate his speech." It was odd to hear about this going on in the mall. People had been talking about these kinds of problems going on in the poorer areas of town, but this was the first incident in a long time that seemed close to home, so to speak. Of course, gang related activity was always few and far between around here, so usually this kind of thing would cause people to worry for like a week then blow over. It was different for us this time though.

"…and here now is the footage of what transpired last night." The channel then cut to some amateur cameraman's footage of a bunch of teens rioting in the mall. Most of the teens had some article of clothing that was green; I suppose that indicates their gang color or something. Most of the windows were broken and plenty of teens were running away with stolen goods.

Roy grumbled, "What's this world coming to?"

Pig Pen sighed, "It's a sad world when El Grapadura is preempted by this."

Linus pondered, "What kind of stupid name is Kat's Eye Killaz?"

Pig Pen turned his head to Franklin who looked at him oddly then sighed, "Oh, because I'm black I'm supposed to know about this?"

Pig Pen smiled, "I never said that, but is it true?"

Franklin grumbled, "You're such a little…"

"Holy crap guys look!" I interrupted. I wasn't sure at first because there was too much going on in the film. A familiar boy was rioting with all of the others. I knew that I had seen him from somewhere, but because of all the action I couldn't get a clear look at him. He then however noticed the cameraman filming him and stared directly in the camera for a moment before making a move at the camera. At this point the film ends, presumably because the guy filming was running away. As for the boy who chased him off: that was Schroeder.

…

Linus and I immediately left Pig-Pen's; nobody seemed to really be in the mood to watch Lucha Libre Wrestling anymore.

"I'm not surprised by this at all Charlie Brown; of course that scumbag is rioting. Why wouldn't he? He surely hasn't self destructed enough yet." Linus was justifiably fuming. This situation with Schroeder seemed to be constantly escalating. "Hopefully he gets arrested soon. He can be a big an asshole to the guys in prison that he wants. I'd love to see how Bubba would take it."

My attention wasn't so much directed towards our wayward friend, but rather Lucy, "Linus, Schroeder is tied to gang activity. He could be really dangerous. He hasn't been in contact with Lucy, right?"

Linus's eyes widened, "You don't think Lucy would still try and contact him would you?"  
I shrugged, "I don't know, she's your sister. How has she been acting lately?" Most of us had only seen Lucy in school; she didn't talk nearly as much as usual. The whole Valentine's Day thing really messed her up.

"She's been really depressed about all that happened, not to mention crabby. I guess it sucks, but I'm sure she'll be able to pull herself out of this soon."

"He hasn't tried to contact her at all, right?"

"Why would he do that? He's the one who wants to be rid of her."

I didn't feel right about something. Schroeder wasn't right in the head at all, he could very well be very angry at her. "Linus I think we need to tell your sister about this."

"Charlie Brown, I told you before, it would just make her more upset…"

"What if she tries to contact him Linus? He's a very dangerous person right now. We can't risk her life just to spare her feelings." I swallowed a lump in my throat, at that moment I almost felt like Lucy; handing out hard to swallow but practical facts to a wishy washy client (who usually would be me).

Linus sighed, "You're right Charlie Brown, but you have to break the news to her." I felt a wave of dread fall over me, more so even then how I felt when I thought Schroeder and Joe Agate's gang had seen me.

"Why do I have to do it?"

"I deal with Lucy enough on a daily basis! I can't _afford_ to be the bearer of bad news."

….

Linus and I headed over to his house and caught Lucy watching television (unfortunately it wasn't the remainder of the El Grapadura match).

"Hey Lucy, how's it going?" I politely asked.

"Why are you two interrupting my show? I've told you twenty times this week not to interrupt my shows Linus!"

Linus laughed, "Ah well I suppose we had better get going..." I ignore him though, this is too important.

"Lucy I don't really know how to say this…and I hope that you don't get mad at us…and I know it's a lot to take in and all…but please try and…"

Raising her voice she bluntly demanded, "Spit it out blockhead!" Then I blank out on the spot! Lucy looks at me angrily as I try and come up with what to say.

Luckily Linus intervenes, "Lucy, Schroeder's in a gang and on some sort of drugs. We're not exactly sure what, but we are fairly certain that's why he's been acting erratic." Lucy's face grows redder than before.

Knowing that she isn't going to accept this, I try and emphasize the seriousness of our warning, "Lucy, he's incredibly dangerous right now. You can't try and contact him. He may not restrain himself in hurting you."

Lucy stares at us, as if she is insulted, Linus reiterates, "Lucy, we care about you, we just want you to be safe."

She groans, "This is what you blockheads are bugging me about? You saw how badly he treated me in front of the entire school. Do you really think I'm desperate and pathetic enough to go after someone like that again? Who do you think I am, Charlie Brown?" Hey! I've been in plenty of unrequited relationships but never with somebody who wanted me dead!

She seemed to be telling the truth but I wanted to get a direct answer, "So you aren't trying to contact him in anyway?"

"Of course not! I know you enjoy people feeling sorry for you Charlie Brown, but I don't like going out of my way so people can hurt me."

I mutter to Linus, "Remind me again why I'm helping her…"

She then chuckles a bit, a welcome sight compared to her grim mood, "You two must think you're super sleuths or something. You realize that everybody in the entire school pretty much knows about Schroeder being in that gang. He's been more or less suspended anyway. Good job though guys, you really hit a home run watching the news for once."

Linus growls, "Alright! Excuse us for caring, go back to watching your stupid soap opera or whatever."

"It happens to be a televised psychology conference." Linus and Lucy then began to bicker a bit, which while always annoying, was reliving in a way to see. However, one thought crept into my mind that I had to bring up.

"Lucy, Schroeder hasn't tried to contact you, has he?"

Lucy paused for a moment and glared into me. It wasn't an angry glared though, but a worried one. It only took her a moment though to shake out of it and reassure us, "Of course not. Why would he want to contact me? He made it quite clear that he hates me! Now will you guys get out!"

Linus nudged me, "Let's listen to my sister before she kills us!" We both exit the room; I didn't feel very convinced about what Lucy had said. Had Schroeder been trying to contact her?  
Before we exit Linus shouts to his sister, "So you saw the news report? That means you were watching El Grapadura huh? I thought Lucha Libre was "worthless trash"?"

"GET OUT!"

…

Life continued normally for a little while following that, with the exception of Lucy who seemed to grow crabbier by the day. She made it clear numerous times that she didn't need "any pity from Charlie Brown" and that she'd "give up on life if I did!" I figured it best to leave her be.

"Wait you mean there was a World War One?" Peppermint Patty asked, shocked. I still was tutoring her in history; which she desperately needed.

"Of course there was. Why would there be a World War Two without it?"

"I always thought it was just so bad that it was twice a war! So wait, was World War One the one where we got our independence from the French?"

I sighed, "First off, we got our independence from the British…"

Her eyes lit up, "Oh! That's why we speak English then, right Chuck?"

"Yeah…exactly. World War One was a conflict throughout most of Europe and much later the United States. Most experts blame it on the formation of secret alliances throughout Europe. War pretty much broke out after Serbian nationalists…"

"Yo babe? You done yet? There's nothing good on TV!" Of course, as also became the norm, Jose Peterson tagged along while I was tutoring his girlfriend. In order to be a good host I let him watch whatever he wanted and provided him with some soda and snacks; it was quite apparent that he didn't appreciate my hospitality. "Hey Brown! Got any more of that root beer?"

"A little busy here, Jose, we got some in the garage, help yourself!" I reply, as kindly as I can muster.

"Jesus, keep your pants on. Fine, I'll get it myself."

I groan at Peppermint Patty, "Why does he have to come to each and every one of these study sessions? He's just distracting you."

She smiles, "Who Jose? Well he just doesn't want me hanging out with any other guys all by myself. Isn't he something, huh?" Oh yeah he's something alright…

"Yeah, that's real sweet of him. Anyway I suppose we should get back to studying. We do have a test in a week." It was hard for me to concentrate though. It was tough finding anytime to hang out with Peppermint Patty now that Jose Peterson was always around. I wouldn't mind if he was dating my friend, but he didn't have to be such an asshole about it.  
"Yo, what the hell Charlie. You're all out of root beer. You holding out on me?"

I rolled my eyes, "I guess Snoopy got to them before you."

Peterson almost spat, "This is bull…Alright come on Patty; we've been here for like 3 hours." It was 3:30; we get home from school around 2:45.

"Jose, Peppermint Patty really needs to study. Maybe if you left…"

Peterson glared at me, "Leave? So you can make a move on her you round headed freak!"

Peppermint Patty cut him off, "I can assure you Jose, Chuck here has never made a pass at me in my life. You got nothing to worry about."

"Come on Peterson, she really needs help."

"I think I know what's best for my chick. Let's get out of here Patty."

Patty rolled her eyes, "We better get going." I must have frowned or something cause she followed up with, "Don't worry bout me kiddo, I can handle Peterson no problem. Take care Chuck."

"Bye Patty." I gave a polite nod to Peterson who rolled his eyes as he stormed out my house. Roy was right: screw Jose Peterson!

…

"Charlie Brown, I feel like I'm going to go crazy. Absolutely crazy." It was the weekend and Linus and I were spending it doing what we normally did: playing video games.

"I wasn't aware you were ever sane."

He snickered, "I'll ignore that remark, but know I have a billion things I can say back to you about that."

"Yeah yeah. Alright what's up?"

"Frieda is driving me crazy!" Good grief, this again.

"Linus you've done nothing but complain about her since you started dating her back at the beginning of the year. Why don't you break up with her?"

Linus shook his head, "I'm trying man, I just need to find the opportune moment."

"Opportune? You know what Linus, you're lucky to have a girl like Frieda."

Linus sighs, "I'll tell you what Charlie Brown, next time she starts talking about how long it takes her to do her hair, I'll call you and you can join in."

I stare at him, "Isn't her hair naturally curly? It shouldn't take her long at all."

He glares at me, "Exactly…last time I saw her she went on for 40 minutes about how much time she _doesn't_ have to spend on her hair."

"Wow…"

…

_A few nights later, Lucy found herself getting home around 7:30pm. She had to stay late for a student council meeting. Since she started getting involved in things again, her life seemed to get a little more manageable. Sure she was upset over Schroeder, but there was little she could do but keep herself safe. She realized that she didn't need someone like that in her life anymore. _

_ "Oh Jesus, not again!" She walked into the living room to see Linus on the phone, looking desperately bored. "You know dad's going to kill you when he gets the phone bill Linus. Frieda's going to send us to the poor house." _

_ Covering the phone with his hand, Linus hissed, "I'd gladly switch places with you right now!" and then quickly turned back to the phone, "-what's that? Oh nothing honey! Please continue…"_

_ Lucy couldn't resist laughing as Linus struggled to get off the phone with his girlfriend. "Yes dear…my parents are home…yeah there was a…family emergency…can't talk right now! Bye!" Linus hung up the phone and gasped for breath. _

_ Lucy made a whipping noise, prompting Linus to groan, "Oh shut up!"_

_ "You're so whipped little brother; it's almost adorable…in a completely pathetic sense."_

_ Linus mumbled, "Having you as a sister would destroy any man's resilience." _

_ "Watch it blockhead. Don't expect any sympathy from me. You're the moron who wanted to date her."_

_ At that moment the phone began to ring. Linus's eyes grew wide with fear, "Lucy, you got to answer it! I can't talk to her…tell her something's going on! That I got shot! Or deported! Something like that!"_

_ "Why don't you just not pick up the phone?"_

_ Linus almost began to scream, "This is Frieda! She won't stop calling! She'll come over to make sure I'm okay! I don't know!" He then got on his knees, "Lucy, I am your younger brother and your inferior in every way. Please, please, please do me this one favor. Please, I beg of you."_

_ Lucy snapped, "Jesus Christ, I'll talk to your stinking girlfriend, alright? I swear to go you're worse than Charlie Brown."_

_ She picked up the phone and angrily greeted, "Hello?"_

_ "Lucy you god damn bitch!" Lucy's face went blank. "I'm calling to tell you that you made a big mistake sending your brother and Charlie Brown on me that day. Big mistake you freaking bitch. I put up with your shit for 9 years and you have the nerve to pull that shit? I swear to god you stupid bitch that your life is going to be a complete hell. You said I was ruining my life and had no chance with a music career. I don't need it. I don't need you. I don't need anybody! I'm on the top of the world right now and you're going to be sorry you messed with me! I'm going to get you, you stupid-", Lucy hung up before he could finish._

_ Linus; clueless, asked, "You didn't say anything? She's not coming over here is she?"_

_ "It was Schroeder…"_

…

I was on my computer, playing an online game with Pig-Pen; who was soundly kicking my ass and of course taking every opportunity to rub it in. A message from his account's name _n0t0ri0usP I G _read, "_ololol mass carriers ftw ur such a n00b charli bown_".

I responded with a curt, "_Go to hell_". Shortly there after, Pig-Pen had demolished my base, which was enough for me to decide to call it a night. As I was shutting my computer down I heard Sally's voice, getting closer.

"Are you sure you didn't call to ask me out this weekend, Sweet Baboo? Fine, fine! I'll put my stupid brother on." Sally walked into my room and handed me the phone, "Apparently Linus wants to take to you!" she angrily stated, before walking out of the room.

I shrugged and started talking, "What's up Linus, I was just about to head to bed."

"Charlie Brown, Schroeder just called Lucy."

"What?"

"He just called her a few minutes ago. He threatened her, said he was going to 'get her'."

"Linus this is serious!"

"I know Charlie Brown, we just called the cops. They're going to file a report, but they don't think they can really do anything about it."

I sighed, how could things possibly be getting like this? Schroeder's supposed to be our friend. Sure he's a bit of a pompous jerk sometimes, but he's still supposed to be our friend. Why is he like this? "What's going to happen now?"

"My parents are freaking out more than she is. They're thinking of sending her our Aunt Marian or our grandma. Lucy's adamant against that…but it is for her own safety."

"Do you think Schroeder would really make good on those threats? I mean it's obviously the drugs doing the talking."

"You saw him at school. He was definitely going to hit her. We can only assume that he's gotten worse since then."

This was all way too much to deal with, "He mentioned you too Charlie Brown. He accused Lucy of sending you and me after him, and since I hit him, he's going to get back at her."

It was shocking, he really was sick in the head. "What are we going to do now?"

Linus sighed, "I haven't told Lucy about this, but I'm going to talk to Joe Agate. He's the slime that's been supplying Schroeder. The only way we can get to the bottom of this is through him."

"Linus are you crazy? He's pretty much a fourteen year old Al Capone! It'd be suicide to talk to him!"

Linus's tone of voice got grim, "Charlie Brown, this is my sister. If Sally was in the same situation you would do the same!"

"Linus I understand, but there's got to be a safer way to…"

"You're not talking me out of this Charlie Brown. I'm getting Joe to put a stop to all of this, one way or another."

I had no idea what Linus could have possibly have had in mind. To my knowledge at that moment: neither did he.

To be continued…

(A/N: Sorry it's taken me a while to get this up; this semester has been pretty much kicking my ass completely so I've been pretty busy. Also could you tell I've been on a bit of an Angry Beavers kick lately?)


	9. Dirge of Schroeder

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: Freshman

By Sean Mahoney

Chapter 7: Dirge of Schroeder

"Are you sure you want to go along with this, Charlie Brown?" Linus asked me. The two of us were in the bad section of town that I had seen Schroeder meet Joe Agate a while back.

"Of course I don't want to go along with this! Hunting down a well known drug dealer is _not_ a good idea. But there's no way I'm letting you do this alone." We had argued about this for a while. Lucy herself even overheard and forbade us to get involved. It's suicide, but Linus is my best friend and Lucy is like a sister to me. A really crabby and verbally abusive sister perhaps, but still a sister.

Linus nodded, "You're a good friend Charlie Brown." We stopped at a corner and looked around it. Joe Agate was indeed in the same spot as he was last time, and thankfully he was alone. Even still I was incredibly nervous about the situation. I don't know what good I could possibly have been, I'm a total wuss in a fight and I don't exactly fare much better in terms of persuasion. Linus on the other hand is an expert debater; he is also hot blooded, and though he is certainly justified when it comes to the safety of his sister, it could also lead us to being killed. He held his blue blanket tightly. I'm not sure what possessed him to think that bringing a security blanket into a back alley was a prudent move, but who am I to judge?

"Excuse me, Mr. Agate!" Linus called to him sternly.

I whispered, "Remember, be calm and don't provoke him."

Joe sneered at us, "I know you dweebs, Charlie Brown and the crazy bitch's brother. What's your name again?"

Linus did all he could to maintain his composure, "Linus."

Joe rolled his eyes, "Well can you guys make it snappy then, I'm a pretty busy man." He then smiled, "Unless of course you are here to talk business."

I muttered, "Oh no...we don't want any of that."

"Then I don't see why I should be wasting my time talking to you guys. Time is money you know?"

Linus took a step towards him, which made Joe's eyes flash, definitely not a good move. "If you know that Lucy is my sister, then perhaps you know that she has been threatened and harassed by our once friend Schroeder, who has suspiciously been acting very unlike himself this past year."

Joe shrugged nonchalantly, "Why would any of that matter to me?"

I add, "Lucy's really upset over this; we all are, Schroeder used to be one of our best friends. Now he's been for lack of a better term: a violet douche."

"Oh well that sucks, them's the breaks though huh?" Joe smirked.

Linus had about now lost his patience, "Listen you jerk, we know all about you! You're nothing but a no good drug dealer! You've been selling to Schroeder which has been really messing him up!"

Joe stared at us in disbelief for a moment and then began laughing his ass off. "You guys are rich! Oh man!" He cooled down and smiled, "Well I guess at this point I can't deny that I've been dealing, my reputation does precede me and all." Both of us were glaring at him intensely which lead him to remark, "Oh please don't give me those looks like I'm some sort of scumbag. It's strictly business. Business just happens to be booming of course." He smirked once again, "Not like I'm dumb enough to use the stuff I sell anyway. That's the secret really. It's a real easy job, maybe even you could do it, Charlie Brown."

At this point I begin to feel more anger than fear at this asshole, "So you have been behind this? Why?"

Joe laughed again, slapping his knee, "You guys are something else, you know that? Acting like I've been manipulating Schroeder to hate all of your guts or something. You guys watch too many after school specials. It's simple: yes I'm a dealer, therefore I deal. As Laurence Olivier stated, it's all about 'Money, Dear Boy'". Never thought I'd meet a drug dealer that was so...informed. "I sell, he buys. It's none of my business what he does with it. As long as he has the money, I'm there for him."

"You're full of it!" I interrupt, "I saw you dealing with him. You were telling him how much better off he was without Lucy and the rest of us! I'm pretty sure I heard you say that you've been telling him to ditch us for a while."

Joe smugly grinned, "Nothing gets past that round head of yours, eh Brown? Okay, you got me. I have been playing him. He's such a sap. I can't take all the credit though; dude has some serious anger problems."

Linus glared at him, "Why would you do that? It doesn't make any sense."

I nodded in agreement, "I don't see how this benefits you at all."

"I told you guys before, 'Money, dear boy'. I'm just getting paid for all this. No need to take it so personally."

Linus lunged at Joe and grabbed his collar, "I'll show you personal, you slug!"

Joe was surprised for a moment and then smirked. He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a knife, "You really didn't think a dealer like me would be walking around unarmed eh? You can let me go now."

Linus was fuming, but thankfully complied with Joe. "You scumbag."

I looked over at Linus and whispered, "What now?"

Joe smiled at us, "It seems we're at something of an impasse, eh gentlemen? Now listen here, I'm not in the business of taking lives so why don't you run off?"

"But what about Schroeder?" I asked as firmly as I could muster.

"If you guys have any sense you should just forget about him."

Linus snapped back, "Not when he's making threats against my sister!"

"Your sister brought this on herself. She shouldn't have tried befriending that piano playing freak in the first. Everyone knows there isn't something right in the head with him! That's why it's so easy for me to constantly rip him off, as long as he's angry at someone else he'll listen to anyone who agrees with him!"

"Is that so, Joe Agate?" A fourth voice asked. Joe seemingly lost the color in his face and muttered a curse to himself. I turned my head to the other side of the alley where a ghastly looking Schroeder stood.

…...

_ Peppermint Patty sat quietly with Jose Peterson on his couch as he flipped through channels, trying to find something to watch. Peterson looked over at his girlfriend and noticed her sour disposition, "What's your problem babe? You look like you just ate a face full of prunes."_

_ "I'm getting real ticked on how you keep treating my friends. Chuck's a nice guy, you didn't have to be so rude to him when we were at his house for my tutoring."_

_ Peterson shook his head, "I told you the only reason you're ever seeing him is so you can pass your classes. You can't play baseball if you don't pass. Otherwise forget about him, you're my girl now and you don't need to hang around some loser like him and his friends."_

_ Peppermint Patty sneered at him, "Oh so I have to choose between them and you now, is it?"_

_ Peterson nodded, "Yeah, pretty much. Don't forget, if you're going to be my chick we have to keep appearances in mind. Wouldn't look good to see you fraternizing with the likes of Charlie Brown and Pig-Pen or that little fag with the blanket."_

_Patty looked at him in disbelief for a moment and then smiled slyly at him. "Well I guess it __really is an easy decision, huh?"_

_ Peterson grinned at her and agreed, "Damn right it is."_

_ She then stood up and head towards the door, "Catch you at practice then, Jose. I hope you'll be able to maintain a professional relationship despite this little breakup of ours." It took him a second to process what was going on, but once he did he immediately rushed out of his seat and grabbed a hold of her on._

_ "Wait a minute, you can't just walk out on me. Nobody just walks out on Jose Peterson!"_

_ Peppermint Patty effortlessly shook his hand off her arm and shrugged, "I'm sure plenty of girls will follow suit when they learn what a stuck up jerk you are."_

_ Jose grabbed her arms and rushed to pin her to the wall, taking her by surprise, "Oh no you don't, I'm the star baseball player, and I always get what I want!" His eyes were wild and he smiled lecherously at her._

_ To his surprise she started chuckling, "Dude, you're a total shrimp. I know what you're trying to do, but it isn't going to work."_

_ He growled, "Watch me!"_

_ She sighed, "Of course I'm not about to let you take complete advantage of me, especially not against my will." She then delivered a swift kick to his groin which left him writing in pain on the floor. "I guess I was wrong about you. You're not just a stuck up jerk, you're also a total creep. If you come near me again with anything that doesn't deal with baseball, I'll shred you! Understood?"_

_ Jose moaned in pain. Patty smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."_

…_..._

"Shit!" Whatever was going on, Joe Agate was not expecting Schroeder to show up. "What are you doing here, it hasn't even been two weeks since the last time I sold to you?"

Schroeder, without emotion, replied, "I ran out."

I know I must sound like a broken record, talking about how disturbing and unlike himself he looks every time I see him, but Schroeder barely resembled himself at all at this point. His face was skeletal and his eyes were more or less completely red.

"So Joe, you think you can rip me off huh? Think you can play me? All that talk about getting away from those losers and here you are dealing with them!"

Joe shook his head, "Hey calm down, it's not like I knew they were going to be here."

Schroeder growled, "Shut up! You've been playing me this whole time. Just like that harpy, Lucy!"

I muttered to Linus, "For a second I thought he had come to his senses." That was a mistake. Schroeder instantly turned towards me and walked over.

He glared at me with his beat red eyes, "You say something baldy? What is it? You think I'm acting weird? Not normal? Well here's some news for you Brown, this is the real me! I'm on top right now! What can you say about yourself? You're a loser, a nothing."

I plead with him, "Schroeder, we're only fourteen years old. You aren't on top of the world, you have a serious problem, you need help!"

"Don't you tell me what I need!" He shouted. As he was concentrating on me, I saw Joe out of the corner of my eyes approaching him with his knife drawn!

"Schroeder!" I yell to warn him. Schroeder looks behind himself confused as Joe lunges to strike.

_THWACK! _A flash of blue and the sound like the cracking of a whip fill the air for a moment and Joe is disarmed, holding his hand in pain. Linus, triumphantly holding his blanket nods at me before turning his attention to Joe. Ignoring Schroeder, who ducked out of the way at the sound of Linus's blanket, I do the same. "What the hell did you think you were doing, you scumbag?" Linus interrogates.

Joe spat in response, "Saving our collective butts!" He pointed to Schroeder, "Thanks to you, now we're all going to die!"

Schroeder indeed was now carrying the knife that Joe Agate had, and was staring at the three of us.

…...

_Peppermint Patty made her way down the street in a rush. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go or who to talk to but she needed to see someone, anyone, soon. The empowerment she felt from throwing off her now ex-boyfriend's advance had now worn off and she was deeply upset that he had tried something like that. _

_ She needed to talk to somebody; her dad was still at work though and she felt what had happened didn't constitute an emergency. Marcie was out of town too with some of the guys on some robotics club tournament thing. It was probably best she didn't bring this up to her, Marcie definitely was ga-ga for Jose Peterson. _

_ She shook her head as a minor realization came to her, "Looks like Roy was right all along, Peterson's a scumbag." She instantly dismissed any notion of talking to Roy even if he was around though; he was no better than Peterson. _

_ There was only one guy she knew she could talk to: Chuck. She'd tell him everything and he'd stand there, awkwardly and silently: not sure how to react. When she would press him to speak he'd stammer and end up saying something stupid._

_ She smiled; that's exactly how it should be. _

_ …..._

_ It didn't take her too long to get to Chuck's house. Unfortunately, Sally came to the door to inform her that he was at Linus and Lucy's place. When she made her way over there Lucy's news wasn't any more helpful.  
"Why would you look for him here? Him and my stupid brother usually hang out at his house."_

_ "Well yeah, I figured that. Sally said that he was here at her sweet baboon's house or something._

_ Lucy shrugged, "They're probably at Franklin's or something."_

_ Patty shook her head, "No, they're all at that robotics club thing. I doubt they went anywhere to eat or anything, it's not like they have any money."_

_ Lucy rolled her eyes, "Look Patty, I don't know where my dorky brother or that blockhead could have possibly-". Her eyes went wide suddenly has she came to a realization, "Oh no. Those blockheads. Those stupid, moronic, **blockheads**!"_

…_..._

Schroeder was chuckling to himself, as the three of us were paralyzed in apprehension. "Heh heh, this is interesting. Agate you slime ball, I thought you were this big tough drug dealer. Linus disarmed you like the chump you really are. Speaking of Linus... I think I should repay you for making me look like an ass back on Valentine's day." He lunged at Linus with the knife, causing all of us to recoil defensively. He stopped and laughed, "Oh we're going to have a lot of fun."

Linus clenched his blanket, he was trying to look stoic, but I'm sure he felt the same as I did: hopeless and panicked. "Come on man, I'll be doing you a favor. Chicks dig scars right? I'm sure that Frieda of yours will gush over it. Or maybe Ms. Othmar'll come knocking at your door late at night!"

Linus muttered at him, "How the hell could you have sunk this low?"

Schroeder narrowed his eyes, "Low? You call this low? I've been having the time of my life. I've been freaking winning at everything! I'm living the dream!"

"Schroeder, please, what are you even trying to accomplish by threatening us here?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. All I know is that you've all been pissing me off to no end lately and that this feels awesome!"

"But why? We're your friends. We've been your friends since we were barely out of diapers. You heard Joe Agate say that's he's been playing you like a fiddle yourself. And you hate the fiddle!"

For one moment Schroeder stood there quietly. Perhaps he was actually processing what I was saying? "I don't need any of you assholes!" He screamed, wildly slashing the air around him.

Linus whispered with a defeated tone, "It's no use, this is all about pride. Even if he realizes what he's doing is wrong, he'll never admit it."

Schroeder must have picked up on some of what Linus said, as he responded with great indignation, "Damn right I have pride! That's what makes me so great! You should try it yourself one time Charlie Brown, you waste of life!"

I sighed, "Taunt me all you want Schroeder, if that's what is going to get you to stop all of this, then fine." I smiled at him, as hard as it was to force, "I listen to Lucy on a daily basis, I can take it."

"Shut up Brown, I don't know what I'm going to do with you three yet."

Linus and I tensed up, it couldn't have been coming to this. Could it? I knew he was crazy, but he wouldn't actually try and...kill us? The look on his face had changed though from one of pure rage to one of confusion. Perhaps he was just as unsure as us. Unfortunately the one person who was decisive was Joe Agate.

"I'm out of here!" He grunted as he shoved Linus out of his way towards Schroeder. It happened in a second: Schroeder's eyes widened as he perceived an attack from Linus and struck with his weapon.

Linus screamed in pain and fell to the ground as Joe ran out of the alley. I rushed towards Linus and grabbed his blanket to apply to his wound. I knew he'd be pissed that his blanket would get bloody but his life was a bit more important to me than worrying about that. Schroeder merely stared at us, the offending knife still grasped firmly in his hand. I glared at him for a moment in anger: Linus was just dangerously injured thanks to Schroeder and his dealer. I know Joe in this instance was more directly responsible, but Schroeder allowed himself to fall this far. A moan from Linus made me realize that now wasn't the time for anger. As long as Schroeder wasn't going to attack again, I needed to concentrate on stabilizing Linus's wound until I could get him to the hospital.

Luckily, Linus's scream and Joe's hasty retreat attracted more attention than Joe Agate would have hoped for. Two cops apparently were in the area, on a tip they received, and quickly apprehended both Joe and Schroeder. Linus at that point had passed out and was being sent to the hospital in an ambulance.

I was questioned a bit by the officers, I told them what happened. All that is a blur to me. I did learn that Lucy was the one who tipped them off. She must have figured out where we had gone to and realized nothing good would have come of it. The officer assured me that Linus just suffered a flesh wound and offered to give me a ride home, since my parents were out of town. They never heard about the incident.

Before leaving I glanced over at Joe and Schroeder. Joe was struggling and insisted to the officer that he hadn't done anything. This however wasn't Joe's first offense it seems and the officer remarked that he was in big trouble this time. Serves him right.

Schroeder on the other hand was completely still. I hadn't seem him likes this forever. He stared at me and our eyes met. They looked different from earlier. When this miserable affair began tonight his eyes were mad and wild. Now they seemed glazed over; hazy...depressed. An officer took the two away in handcuffs, as Schroeder passed me he muttered, almost so quietly so I wouldn't hear it, "I'm...so sorry..." and that was it. Schroeder was taken away and I wouldn't see him again for a long time.

…...

First and foremost, Linus was fine. The police officer was right, it was only a flesh wound. They kept him in the hospital for the weekend to be safe and was released without incident. Of course, he received a major tongue lashing from his sister; admonishing him (as well as me) for playing hero. She was right of course, it was stupid for us to try and go against a known drug dealer, as well as a mentally unstable drug user. Sally was prepared to hold a vigil for Linus and sent him flowers by the hour. Frieda also chewed us out for worrying her half to death. She threatened to have Lucy kill me if Linus was to take a turn for the worse. Apparently, Lucy wasn't as angry at me as she was at her brother though.

The day after he was taken to the hospital Lucy and I were sitting with him as he was boasting, "I tell you sis, you should have seen me take that knife out of Joe Agate's hands with my trusty blanket. And you wanted me to get rid of it!"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "It sure did you a lot of good when Schroeder slashed you with it."

"I'm not dead, am I?"

Lucy laughed, "Oh and that's because of your blanket?"

Linus shrugged, "Well I don't claim to know who this big universe of ours works but...".

"Oh just put a sock it in. It's a good thing Peppermint Patty showed up at my house looking for your pal Eeyore or else I wouldn't have realized that you idiots were stupid enough to try and go after a known drug dealer.

Linus smiled, "Well it worked didn't it? Both Joe Agate and Schroeder aren't a danger to you anymore. I'd think my beloved sister would be grateful that I risked my life for her." I cleared my throat, "Oh yeah, and Charlie Brown was there too! You should have seen him stand up to the two of them. He was almost able to talk Schroeder down before Joe pushed me into him."

The two began to bicker again until a nurse kicked us out, stating that Linus needed to rest. I suspect she was just tired of hearing us talk. As the two of us walked out Lucy sighed, "I still can't believe you went with him. Linus is a headstrong zealot sometimes...but you, you have more sense than that."

I nodded, "Yeah well...you know he's my best friend. I argued against going and all but I couldn't just..." I sighed, "It was stupid. I admit it. I'm a blockhead."

She smirked, "Yeah you are, but we already knew that."

Feeling like a moron, as per usual, I quietly muttered, "I'm really sorry Lucy. I knew I screwed up."

She blinked at me, "Sorry? What the hell are you sorry for? You risked your life to make sure nothing happened to my little brother. Of course you didn't exactly succeed, but hey, I know not to expect too much of you. Seriously though, that was braver than I ever thought possible of you. You're a great friend Charlie Brown, and Linus is lucky to have a friend like you."

I blushed and stuttered, "Oh well...maybe...I don't know-", without warning Lucy interrupted me with a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. She let go of me and I stared at her in disbelief, unsure if the universe had just imploded on itself.

She smiled, a tear was running down her face, "I'm lucky to have a friend like that too. I know you went there primarily to help Linus...but I know you've been standing up to Schroeder on my behalf just as much as he has been. I'm really glad to see you care about me."

I grinned at her, "Well we've been friends since we were toddlers."

She shrugged, "The same could be said about Schroeder."

I put my hand on her shoulder, "We've _stayed_ friends since we were toddlers." The two of us stood there quietly for a moment as we reached the bus stop.

After a moment she broke it by saying, "You know all that stuff I say about you...I'm just messing with you right."

I nodded, "Yeah. I figured that out a few years back. Of course I know you love it so much that I didn't say anything."

She grinned, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure you didn't think I really hated you like Violet does or anything."

"Yeah, gotcha."

We stood there for another moment quietly until the bus pulled up when she muttered, "You're a good man Charlie Brown...and the best friend someone like me could ask for." I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but I can assure you it made me feel really good. To know that I actually did something that really mattered to someone. "Of course if anyone hears that I hugged you or gave you that _purely platonic_ kiss...you're going to wish Schroeder and Joe Agate finished the job. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

…...

After that moment on our way out from the hospital, Lucy and I didn't mention what had happened again. It's not like either of us have any real feelings for each other but it's good to know that she considers me a true friend. Linus quickly got out of the hospital and tried to play off what happened that night as heroic, much to the annoyance of his sister and girlfriend. Sally of course ate up everything and became even more dedicated as his fan girl. Don't tell anybody but I went into her room once and found that she had taking to writing stories about him and his "heroics" and were posting them on the internet. If that's not sick and deranged then I don't know what is. If Linus ever finds out about them, I know nothing!

Joe Agate was sentenced to a few months of jail, apparently his dad know a good lawyer. On the plus side, the drug charges alone were enough to get him expelled from regular classes at school (when he gets out he'll have to go to night school or something). So at least he won't be able to do nearly as much damage.

I hung out with Peppermint Patty the night of being at the bus stop with Lucy. The night in the alleyway I was out so late answering both the police's and doctor's questions that I passed out the minute I got in. The next day I promised to visit Linus with his sister, but I assure Patty I'd see her when I got out. She was upset that she broke up with Jose Peterson. Or rather she was upset over why she broke up with him, apparently he was as big a scumbag as Roy predicted...not that Roy's ever going to know that . It kills me that the first guy she dates ends up to be a total jerk like Jose, but she's happy that she still has us. She apologized for putting him over us but I assured her that there was no reason to. As angry as I am at Jose for treating her like that, I do admit that I'm glad to be able to hang out with her normally again. Having him around did make things weird...I'm not really sure why.

Pig-Pen and Roy came back from the robotics meet with a solid third place. Apparently Marcie and Franklin were coming back a day later because of some business they had to take of concerning the robot's steering system. Pig-Pen also informed me that the steering system was perfectly fine and is suspect about the true nature of their business. I suppose that would be none of my business, but hey, if our hunches are correct: go Franklin! Aw heck, go Marcie too! The two of them certainly would be made for each other: they're the sanest among us by far.

Finally there's Schroeder. After spending the night in jail, he was given an examination and it was determined that he had an initially mild case of bipolar personality disorder that was dangerously compounded by the drugs that he ingested. As he took more his disorder got worse, he became more manic, would consume more harmful drugs, and become increasingly dangerous. He's receiving intensive treatment right now but nobody knows when he'll get out. None of us know what will happen after that as well. It's a shame that it has to have come to this. Schroeder is one of my oldest friends. In fact before all of this happened, barring Snoopy he was my oldest friend (since I would count Violet, Patty, and Shermy among those ranks anymore). It kills me that he fell so far and that he had to be taken away but he's not a danger to any of my friends anymore...and most importantly he's finally getting the help he needs.

_To Be Concluded_...


	10. Epilouge

It's Your Future, Charlie Brown!

High School: ...Sophomore

By Sean Mahoney

Epilogue: One Year Later

With all the craziness surrounding Schroeder done with, the rest of our 9th grade year went off almost without a hitch. Well as close as it could come to that in respect to me. Violet threw a memorial day party that everybody but myself was invited to. According to Pig-Pen I didn't miss much. Thibault beat me up in front of the whole class too at one point. I'd rather not talk too much about that day.

I ended up doing pretty well overall in ninth grade. More importantly though, Peppermint Patty managed to pass everything...and with only one D minus! I'm already more than halfway through tenth grade now, time really is flying. Despite Schroeder's absence, things have gone back to being business as usual. I'm still pretty much the lowest on the school's ladder and Lucy has gone back to being very pushy and bossy. I suppose it's better than knowing she's depressed.

Despite the crap he tried to pull last year, Jose Peterson has managed to keep a professional relationship with Peppermint Patty on the ball field. It's pretty amazing actually: our school's team is doing really good. They did really well this season, placing well in the regionals. There's talk that between Patty's pitching and Jose's hitting they could make it to the state level with a little more training. As for Marcie and Franklin: either our theories about them were baseless or they're doing a really good job at hiding any sort of relationship. After their delayed return from the robotics meet there was no hints that anything had happened between them and they acted completely normal whenever around each other. Once again though I suppose that isn't my business.

I'm really glad all the trouble with Schroeder is over with. It was really painful to see him run himself to the ground, all while hurting Lucy. Of course I still have to deal with other problems these days.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without her, Charlie Brown!" About a month ago, Linus was dumped by Frieda. Since then he's been heartbroken and certainly has no qualms about sharing that with the rest of the school. "She was everything to me Charlie Brown, where am I ever going to get another girl like her."

I sigh, "Once again Linus, I'm really sorry." This has been going on for a month by now and he hasn't let up at all. He used to do this as a kid, I remember he spent an entire ballgame crying about the futility of love and life.

Peppermint Patty, biting into a slice of pizza grumbled, "Sheesh Linus, you're still going on about this? Who are you, Chuck?"

"Oh hardy har har." I mutter.

Linus scoffed at her, "You have have dated a scumbag that tainted your image of romance Patty but don't you judge me! I loved her!"

Marcie, of all people, butted in after taking a sip of soda, "Excuse me Linus, I know this isn't any of my business. But over the past year I couldn't help but remember you scheming to break up with her. You said you couldn't stand the way she talked about her naturally curly hair."

Linus wailed, "Oh her hair! It was so beautiful and so natural!"

Patty laughed, "Sheesh Chuck, I know how down on yourself about Heather...or any other gal not noticing you. Maybe one day I can help you in that department, but I think we all need to hook this guy up first."

I nodded, "I wholeheartedly agree."

…...

That night, after coming back from the pizza place, I went online and got a message from Lucy, asking me to meet her at the bus stop near her house. As I approached her I saw that she looked very anxious.

"Hey Lucy, what's going on?"

She sighed, "Hey Charlie Brown. Today's the day he gets out. I've heard from his parents. They thought I might want to know."

"'He'? Who are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes and groaned, "Who do you think, blockhead? Schroeder?"

I stared at her, "Lucy are you crazy? Why would you want to see him? After everything he did to you."

She frowned at me, "I know he was a real bastard, but it wasn't completely him right?" She stared at the ground, in an almost timid moment for her, "I still have feelings for him Charlie Brown. I know it's insane but I always will." She took a deep breath, "Even still, that's why I want you here. I hope that being away for a year has gotten him better, but who knows?"

I chuckled, "You want me? A total wimp to be here in case he goes nuts? And I thought I was the blockhead!"

"Yeah, well anyone who's friends with you is bound to be one. But I trust you Charlie Brown and I really need you to wait with me."

"Well of course I will." I just hope she's right about him not being nuts. The question is, even though she might be ready to see him, am I? Last time I saw him he stabbed my best friend. He's been abusive to everybody I know. It might not have been entirely his fault, but I don't know if I'm ready to deal with him.

Lucy and I waited at the stop for about two hours. It went by fast though. We just talked. She told me how she ended up beating Thibault up last week, that was nice to hear for sure. We talked about how infuriating Linus has since his stinking breaking with Frieda. The whiner that I am though turned it into a conversation about me being unappealing to any other girl. Lucy joked that if Peppermint Patty isn't into girls like she suspects, I might have a shot with her.

Eventually the bus arrived and I tensed up. Lucy stood up from the bench we were sitting on expectantly and I stood behind her. I know I really wasn't threatening but I was not going to him do anything to her again without having to go through me...as effortless as that would be.

He stepped off the bus, with a bag of luggage in each hand. He certainly looked better physically. His face wasn't gaunt and had the same color as he usually did. His hair was also much neater than it had been when he was sent away. Most tellingly were his eyes though. Instead of being mad and bloodshot, they were...for a lack of a better term...sad.

He stared at us silently for a moment and then dropped his bags, sighing, "Lucy...Charlie Brown...you have no idea how sorry I am...I don't know what to say."

Lucy ran over and hugged him. He put his arms around her and holding back tears responded, "What I did to you was horrible. I'm a terrible, terrible, person Lucy. I don't deserve to be friends with a girl like you."

She stared at him for a moment and then sobbed happily, "Oh put a sock in it you blockhead!" She hugged him for another moment and then let him go.

He turned to me and said, "Charlie Brown...everything I said. About you being a wimp and all that...you were braver than I ever could be standing up to a lunatic like me. All the shit I put you and Linus through...I don't know what to even say."

I smiled at him and said, "You don't need to say anything." I extended my hand to him. He looked at it for a second and then smiled back at me. He reached out and shook my hand.

"Welcome back, Schroeder."

The End


End file.
